Norberto Peets

The Crime

At about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 29, 1996, New York City Police Officers Claude Staten and William Fullam were patrolling near the intersection of 183rd Street and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx when they heard gunfire. At the intersection, they saw a gunman standing at the base of the stairs leading to the 183rd Street elevated subway platform. The gunman was wearing a dark baseball cap backward. 

Officer Staten saw a man carrying a baseball bat approach the gunman. The gunman turned and shot the man, who was later identified as Ernesto Arroyo.

The officers stopped and pursued the gunman. Officer Staten yelled, “Police!” The gunman fired a shot at him and then began to flee eastward. He had to reverse as Officer Fullam was under the subway platform in front of him.

The gunman headed west on 183rd Street toward Davidson Avenue, exchanging gunfire with Officer Staten. The gunman ducked behind a parked car briefly and when he emerged, Officer Staten fired again. The gunman fell backward. Officer Fullam, who was behind Officer Staten, saw the gunman get up, stumble, and then turn the corner onto Davidson Avenue. Officer Staten gave chase, but lost sight of him.

The Investigation

Witnesses told police that moments before the shooting occurred, a confrontation had taken place outside the El Sombrero Bar located at the intersection of 183rd Street and Jerome Avenue. Witnesses said that one of the men had stolen $20 from the counter of Kennedy’s Chicken & Pizza restaurant at the corner. As the men were fighting, the gunman came down the stairs from the subway platform, pulled a gun, and began shooting. He shot Mr. Arroyo in the hip and shot another person, Miguel Ramos, in the ankle. 

The police found a dark blue baseball cap along with a copper bullet jacket, which seemed to have blood on it, located on the street close to the area where Officer Staten suspected he had fired at the gunman. Both were placed into evidence. 

A week later, on Oct. 6, 1996, police arrested 26-year-old Norberto Peets and charged him and two other men with an attempted robbery at a chicken restaurant. Officer Fullam came to the arrest and recognized Mr. Peets as the gunman in the shooting on Sept. 29. 

Mr. Peets denied involvement in the crimes. 

On Oct. 27, 1996, Mr. Peets was indicted on two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault, and two weapons charges relating to the Sept. 29 shooting. 

The Trial

Mr. Peets went to trial on April 26, 1999, in the Bronx County Supreme Court. The charges from the Oct. 6 arrest had been dismissed.

Officer Fullam testified that Mr. Peets was the gunman near the train platform, even though he saw the man’s face for only a few seconds. Officer Staten testified that Mr. Peets was the gunman, though he saw the gunman only briefly. Both officers said that the gunman had been shot. Mr. Ramos testified and identified Mr. Peets as the gunman. Mr. Arroyo was unable to make an identification. A police officer testified as an expert witness that the bloody bullet jacket came from Officer Staten’s gun.

Mr. Peets told the jury that he was at home asleep at the time of the shooting. He said he had returned home from a party before midnight and that his mother made him tea because he felt poorly.

Mr. Peets’ mother and the two siblings with whom he shared a bedroom testified that Mr. Peets was at home, although their accounts varied slightly regarding the timing of his arrival.

During closing arguments, the prosecutor reminded the jury that the gunman had been shot. Mr. Peets’ attorney, in his closing argument, told the jurors there was no evidence that Mr. Peets had been shot. 

On May 6, 1999, the jury convicted Mr. Peets of one count of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

His convictions were affirmed in September 2001.

The Exoneration

In 2010, the Innocence Project began representing Mr. Peets and sought to obtain testing of the bullet fragment that was said to have struck the gunman. It could not be found.

In 2017, the Innocence Project asked the newly-created Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office to reinvestigate. 

Jane Pucher, an attorney for the Innocence Project, filed a motion for a new trial on Sept. 16, 2022. The motion said the district attorney’s office agreed that evidence showed Mr. Peets had been wrongly convicted based on mistaken witness identification and the failure of his attorney to present a thorough defense. 

DNA testing excluded Mr. Peets as a contributor to genetic material found on the baseball cap recovered at the crime scene. In addition, a doctor examined Mr. Peets and found no evidence of a bullet wound, supporting the theory that Mr. Peets was not the gunman, whom Officer Staten said he shot. 

Mr. Peets’ attorney had raised the lack of a bullet wound in the closing argument but failed to introduce any evidence to support that claim. During an interview with the CIU, the lawyer admitted there was no strategic reason for not doing so, even though Mr. Peets’ jail records would have shown no evidence he had been shot.

In June 2021, Dr. Allen Keller examined Mr. Peets at the request of the Innocence Project. Dr. Keller reported that there were “no clinical findings … in any way suggestive or, or consistent with having been caused by gunshot injuries/wounds.” 

The motion said Mr. Peets’ attorney had failed to provide evidence regarding alternative suspects mentioned in the police reports. 

In addition, Officer Staten told the CIU in 2020 that the gunman yelled in English that he had been shot. The motion noted that in 1996, Mr. Peets, a native of the Dominican Republic, spoke almost no English. He had required a translator at his court proceedings.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Justice Ralph Fabrizio vacated Mr. Peets’ convictions. Mr. Peets was released from prison. In January 2023, Justice Fabrizio reinstated the conviction, claiming the state had failed to give him a trial transcript and had misled him about the bullet evidence. 

After Mr. Peets’ attorneys filed a notice of appeal, Justice Fabrizio reversed himself. On May 9, 2023, Justice Fabrizio vacated the conviction and dismissed the charges.

In August 2023, Mr. Peets filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of New York and numerous police officers seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction.