New trial for Donnell Gideon, Camden man imprisoned 12 years for Fairview slaying
Jim WalshCAMDEN - A city man, who’s declared his innocence through 12 years of his 27-year prison term, has won a new trial in connection with a deadly shooting in 2004.
Donnell Gideon, 33, was convicted in 2007 of aggravated manslaughter and other crimes for his alleged role in an attack that killed one man and wounded three people in the Fairview neighborhood.
But an appeals court on Friday said Gideon did not receive a fair trial because his defense attorney failed to present an alibi witness.
It said alibi testimony could have been “invaluable” to Gideon, who had given a statement to police that he’d been present at the crime scene.
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Gideon recanted that statement at his trial, saying he’d been home with his girlfriend at the time of the shooting.
At his trial, Gideon contended investigators had “coached” him on what to say.
He asserted detectives told him “if I can tell that somebody else did the shooting and that I could place myself there just as a witness, that I wouldn’t be locked up, that I’d be able to go home that night, and that everything wouldn’t fall on me.”
The ruling observed Gideon’s “detailed incriminating statement” was played for the jury and was mentioned “repeatedly” in the prosecutor’s closing remarks.
The 33-page ruling also detailed the “long and tortuous” history of Gideon’s fight, with multiple rulings for and against the inmate.
Gideon’s family welcomed the long-awaited decision, said his brother, Camden arts advocate Samir Nichols.
“My brother’s finally receiving the justice he deserves,” said Nichols, who asserted Gideon’s case reflects a failure of the nation’s justice system to provide fair treatment to minority men.
“I’m glad for my brother and my family. We continued to fight,” he added.
The ruling said jurors heard two versions of events leading to a deadly burst of gunfire on the night of July 17, 2004.
In his trial testimony, Gideon acknowledged selling marijuana through distributors in Fairview. He said he fought earlier in the day with Tony “Tone” Alford, a man who admitted to robbing the defendant’s dealers.
Gideon told jurors he left the scene of the fight and encountered his mother, Bianca Gideon-Nichols. She drove him back to talk with Alford, so the men could resolve their differences with a handshake, Gideon testified.
“It was peaced up. Everything was over,” he told the jury, adding his mother then took him home. Gideon said his mother went to work and he stayed in the house with his girlfriend, Sahleeha Bey.
But in his disputed statement to police, Gideon said he called his marijuana supplier from his home and told him about the fight with Alford. He said the supplier came to his house and told Gideon to “suit up” and “get your black on,” meaning to change into black clothing.
According to the statement, Gideon, the supplier and another man drove around Fairview in search of Alford, and believed they'd found him just before midnight near Collings and Chesapeake roads.
Gideon told police the other men took an AK-47 and a shotgun from the vehicle, and all three walked through an alley.
Gideon said the other men were carrying an AK-47 and a shotgun as they walked
According to the statement, Gideon asked his supplier, “Yo, what’s up?” The man responded, “Just look up” and Gideon "heard all the shots firing through the alleyway.''
The shooting killed Joseph Fields, a 60-year-old handyman and father of three.
Authorities said Fields was shot once in the head as he walked to a Collings Road convenience store.
The gunfire wounded two men on the street and a clerk in the convenience store.
Friday’s ruling said the limited evidence about Gideon’s whereabouts magnified the importance of an alibi witness.
“We are not prepared to say that the state’s evidence concerning his whereabouts was overwhelming,” the three-judge panel said.
It noted only one prosecution witness — Vinny Robinson, described as a “competing” drug dealer— testified Gideon was present at the shooting.
It said the defense attorney had challenged Robinson’s ability to identify Gideon because of the distance between the men.
He also questioned his credibility “based on Robinson's personal interest in telling the police what they wanted to hear to avoid arrest and prosecution for his own drug distribution activities.”
The ruling noted the surviving victims had not identified Gideon, and the prosecution had not put him at the scene through surveillance video or GPS data from a cellphone.
The ruling does not name the defense attorney, but Courer-Post accounts of the trial identified him as Robert Gamburg of Philadelphia.
Gamburg could not be reached for immediate comment.
Gideon’s current attorney, Alan Bowman of Newark, did not respond to requests for comment.
Gideon was also convicted of attempted murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault, conspiracy, a weapons offense and hindering apprehension. The jury acquitted him of a murder charge.
No one else was charged in the shootings at the time of his trial.
Gideon would have been eligible for parole in August 2027 under his previous sentence.
Gideon first argued his attorney was ineffective in April 2012 when he filed for post-conviction relief (PCR) after losing a direct appeal of his conviction in 2010.
The PCR petition, which included sworn statements from his mother and Bey, argued the attorney should have requested an adjournment to consider the women’s possible testimony.
Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal rejected the petition without a hearing in August 2013, saying Gideon had not showed an error by his lawyer.
Natal reasoned the defense attorney made a “strategic decision” not to call the women as witnesses due to inconsistencies between their accounts and Gideon’s testimony, according to Friday’s ruling.
When Gideon appealed that decision, Natal was directed to hold a hearing on his request — and the defense attorney “acknowledged that he had not made a strategic decision,” Friday’s ruling said.
Natal then granted post-conviction relief — and ordered a new trial — in October 2016.
But the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office won an appeal of that ruling, sending Gideon’s PCR request before Superior Court Judge Steven Polansky.
Polansky ruled against Gideon in July 2017, saying the attorney’s error had not affected the outcome of the trial a decade earlier.
Gideon appealed Polansky’s decision, leading to the latest ruling.
The appellate panel noted both Natal and Polansky had focused on credibility issues arising from discrepancies between the accounts from Gideon, his mother and Bey.
For instance, Natal listed six inconsistencies between Gideon’s testimony and the women’s statements. He found the women were not credible, opining Gideon-Nichols “seemed rehearsed” and “would do whatever she had to do for her son,” the appellate ruling noted.
And Polansky asserted the discrepancies would have “significantly increased the risk that (Gideon’s) testimony would be disbelieved” and thus would have made conviction more likely.
But the appeals court said most of the inconsistencies cited by the lower-court judges “do not pertain directly to the critical question whether (Gideon) was home throughout the night of the shooting.”
“We believe that (Polansky) overstated the importance of the discrepancies and therefore overestimated their potential impact,” it said.
The ruling acknowledged a significant factual conflict between Gideon, who said his mother went to work on the night of the shooting, and Gideon-Nichols, who said she stayed home. But it also noted Gideon’s defense attorney did not have to present testimony from the mother.
However, the ruling said Bey’s statement “seems to be perfectly aligned with defendant's trial testimony on the fundamental point that they spent the entire night together.”
Consequently, the ruling said, “if the jury believed (Bey) on the fundamental point that (Gideon) was home with her that entire night, her testimony would have strengthened defendant’s alibi defense and thus would have been invaluable to him.”
Jim Walsh: @jimwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com
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