DNA Evidence Could Exonerate This Queens Man Of A 1993 Murder

QUEENS, NY — A judge on Wednesday ordered a hearing over newly-discovered DNA evidence that could exonerate a Queens man who has served 26 years in prison for murder.

Michael Robinson was convicted of the murder of his estranged wife in 1993.

But a new analysis of DNA from the victim's fingernails shows it's 78 trillion times likelier that someone else was the source, according to a genetics company hired by the Legal Aid Society.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Knopf on Wednesday called for a hearing to assess that new finding, first reported by the New York Daily News.

The Queens District Attorney’s Office told the Daily News it stands by the conviction.

(Keep up with news in Queens by subscribing to Queens Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Robinson was charged with murdering his estranged wife, Gwendolyn Samuels, at a Bayside home where she worked as a health aide.

The woman who lived there, Alveina Marchon, was stabbed but survived. She testified against Robinson.

Legal Aid Society lawyers argue that Marchon, who was then 89 years old and suffered from vision problems, was an unreliable witness. They argue that she didn't immediately identify Robinson in a lineup and gave inconsistent accounts of the incident.

They also say Robinson had an alibi: Relatives testified that he was at their Springfield Gardens home at the time of the murder.

Then, in March, Robinson got the DNA results back.

"The record in this case — the case-altering, exonerating DNA evidence, the unreliability of the sole identifying witness, and Mr. Robinson’s compelling alibi — entirely undermines the foundation of the original 1993 conviction," Harold Ferguson, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Appeals Bureau, said in a statement.

Samuels was pregnant with the child of her then-boyfriend when she was killed, the Daily News reported.

Court papers described the boyfriend, Jermaine Robinson — no relation to Michael Robinson — as "a violent individual," according to the Daily News. Defense lawyers in 1993 argued that the boyfriend had murdered Samuels.

Robinson has so far unsuccessfully appealed his conviction. He was released on parole in March.