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Chanel Lewis, 22, was scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday for the August 2016 murder.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The sentencing of the man convicted of the brutal slaying of Howard Beach resident Karina Vetrano has been postponed until next week due to allegations of juror misconduct, according to several published reports.
Chanel Lewis, 22, was scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday for the August 2016 murder. However, Judge Michael Aloise shelved the proceeding to allow for a hearing on Monday, April 22, regarding the misconduct claims.
A three-week trial culminated in a verdict delivered April 1 after just five hours of deliberations. Lewis was found guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree intentional murder, second-degree felony murder, and first-degree sexual abuse. The East New York resident was re-tried after Aloise declared a mistrial in November due to a hung jury.
According to AM New York, a source said that the juror misconduct claims hinge on Lewis’ lawyers “alleging there was a dispute during deliberations between two jurors on the 12-member panel.”
One of the members of the jury that convicted Lewis contacted the Queens Daily Eagle the day after the verdict was delivered, indicating that “he was uncomfortable with how quickly the deliberations went.” The anonymous juror also told the publication that he and a few other jurors wanted to review the two videotaped confessions that Lewis gave to detectives and prosecutors the morning after his arrest in February 2017, but tech issues stymied that request.
“Sh*t happens, but really? We were told we can view any evidence and somehow your computers break,” the juror said.
Lewis’ Legal Aid defense team has claimed that the confession was coerced by detectives desperate for a suspect after coming up dry six months into the investigation. They have also characterized the DNA evidence linking Lewis to Vetrano and the Spring Creek Park scene as dubious at best.
