NYC NOW - November 28, 2023 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

The state Department of Education is suspending several students at Hillcrest High School in Queens after roaming the halls last week calling for the removal of a Jewish teacher. Plus, the sound and light installation Dreamhouse is up and running for its 30th anniversary. WNYC’s Ryan Kailath reports.  Finally, two men who were convicted of separate murders in the 90s  had their cases overturned on Monday, yet only one of them is free. WNYC’s Sean Carlson spoke with reporter Samantha Max on the verdict.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Lance Lucky. The State Department of Education is suspending several students at Hillcrest High School in Queens after hundreds roamed the halls last week, calling for the removal of a Jewish teacher. WNYC's Charles Lane reports. Schools Chancellor David Banks says about 400 students swarmed the halls and, quote, targeted a teacher after she posted a picture of herself holding a sign that reads, I stand with Israel. Banks says contrary to some published reports,

the teacher was never in any danger, and most students had no idea what was happening. I don't even know. I was just out there. Everybody else was out there running around, so I was out there running around too. This notion that this place is a radical, these kids are radicalized and anti-Semitic is the height of irresponsibility. Jewish community activists were unmoved by Banks' remarks. and faulted the school for not doing more to protect the teacher. More after the break. Two murder convictions from the 1990s were overturned in a Manhattan court on Monday.

Though the killings happened in different years, they were investigated by detectives in the same NYPD precinct in Harlem. WNYC's public safety reporter Samantha Max was in court during the verdict and spoke with my colleague, Sean Carlson. Can you give us some background on these two cases and why they're being thrown out? Yes, so the first case that was thrown out today was Wayne Gardein. That was a 1994 fatal shooting in Harlem. He was arrested after two teenagers who were at the scene of the shooting gave statements to police.

The prosecutors now say were actually untrue and that they couldn't have even really seen the shooting from where they were standing. And there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. So after that conviction was tossed, here's how Gardine's mother, Gracie Davis, was responding. outside of the courthouse. Oh my God. I just can't believe what's happening. I cannot believe him. Meanwhile, Jabar Walker, he was convicted in a 1998 double homicide.

A witness who testified at the trial that he heard Walker confess has since said that that was just untrue. And another person who claimed that she saw the killing happen from her second story window, prosecutors are now saying that she was unreliable and gave statements that evolved over time. So both of these men have maintained their innocence, and they took the risk of going to trial instead of taking a guilty plea, and that led to very lengthy sentences. Here's Walker outside of court today. I'm grateful for the innocent project. I'm grateful for the wrongful conviction union.

Just happy to be home with my family now. Wow. So Sam, as we said, both of these cases were investigated by detectives in the NYPD's 30th precinct in Harlem. What was going on in that precinct in the 1990s? So think back to the 1990s. This was a time when crime was a lot higher in New York City than it is now. I know people are concerned about crime these days, but it was a whole different ballgame back then. And this precinct in Harlem ended up being called the dirty 30 for the 30th precinct. There was a mayoral commission that had looked into the detectives there and found just widespread misconduct, including officers who were actually stealing drugs and stealing guns for, you know, their own means.

And many officers ended up being arrested. The detective who was supervising the investigation in the Gardein's case, he later actually served eight years for narcotics conspiracy. How common is it for convictions to be overturned like this? It is becoming more common with time. In Manhattan, DA Alvin Bragg's office has vacated more than 500 convictions. since he took office last year. Those have mostly been in these kind of big batch overturning of convictions connected to NYPD officers accused of misconduct.

In these more, you know, intensive cases like the two that were overturned today, it's been just five convictions of that type so far. And his office collaborates with defense attorneys, which kind of changes the dynamic because defense attorneys and prosecutors are actually working together to re-investigate these convictions that might be wrongful. And prosecutors in the other four boroughs have created similar units, which have also overturned many convictions. And it's part of a trend not just in New York City, but really across the country with prosecutors becoming more open to reviewing their cases from the past. So these men who were wrongfully convicted, what's next for

them? Well, Walker, he is free now. He was released after his hearing. And he's planning to spend time with his family, learn how to use a cell phone because he doesn't know how to do that, and get a job, as his mom joked outside of court. Gerdin, on the other hand, he was only in court via video today because he's still incarcerated. He is actually now in immigration detention. He is from Jamaica, and after he spent almost three decades in prison, he received parole and then immediately went to immigration detention. So now that this conviction has been taken off of his record,

his attorneys are hoping that they can use it to help him get released. Samantha Max covers public safety for WN MISC. You can read more about the cases and overturned convictions that she's covered at our news website Gothamist. Thanks, Sam. Thank you. That's my colleague, Sean Carlson, talking to public safety reporter Samantha Max. The long-running downtown sound and light installation, the Dream House, has opened for its 30th season. WNY sees Ryan Kyloth stopped by.

Outside the Dreamhouse, I found Tagore Goldman ringing the buzzer. So I'm trying to do research for a thesis, and this is one of the places that someone recommended. What do you think is going to be in there? Well, I mean, I know that it sort of straddles, like, sounds and light. I kind of just hope it's going to be like a vibe. Artists can be more visual communicators. So, Lamont Young, the giant of minimal music,

who inspired Andy Warhol and Brian Eno, once conceived of a room that would play long, sustained tones constantly for a hundred years. He's halfway there. Young's been in his Tribeca loft since the early 60s. He built the first dream house a floor up in 66, and this version's been running since 1993. For like an art space in this part of town

to sustain itself for that long, I don't know. That's impressive. It's a relic of an older New York. Finally, we're buzzed in. Hey, how are you? Two flights up, volunteer John Pugh manned desk in the cramped hallway. Shoes off, no photos. I was brought here something like 22 years ago by people who had also done this job.

Behind a door, the Dreamhouse thrums. Pew says his job does pay in... Getting to participate in something that is something uniquely New York and kind of a living team. testament to people who kind of have a life commitment to making art here, which I share. We've been chatting a few minutes when Tagore emerges. Was it what you thought? It's not what I was expecting at all.

I was kind of expecting it to just be like some sort of sleeping den or something to kind of like calm down. It's actually quite jarring. I'm kind of like shaking almost. That was quite unsettling, but in the best way possible. I've been to the dream house a half dozen times. I like to spend an hour inside, stretch out on the shag carpet, roll around. It's like a sound sauna, a brain massage.

It's an extremely physical sensation. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, please come back. I think I'm going to head in. I take you right now, but there's no recording allowed. To learn more about the Dreamhouse and what the experience is like inside, visit our news website Gothamist. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. us every weekday three times a day. I'm Lance Lucky. We'll be back tomorrow.