Man held at Rikers Island Released after "real" crook spotted

By WILLIAM J. GORTA

A Brooklyn man being held on Rikers Island on a robbery charge caught a lucky break when the key eyewitness against him spotted the “real” robber on the street.
The robbery trial of Michael Taylor, 50, was about to begin yesterday when the man who picked him out of a lineup told a prosecutor that he was on his way to court to testify against Taylor when he saw the man who robbed him walking on Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn.
But Taylor, who was accused of robbing a Bensonhurst Radio Shack in 2009, has been in jail for months, first serving out a petit larceny sentence and then cooling his heels while he was unable to make bail in the robbery case.

The prosecutor told the defense and the judge of the ID mix-up and Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Deborah Dowling dismissed the case, allowing Taylor to walk out of court a free man.

“It was beautiful,” said defense lawyer Renate Lunn. “There was no more perfect day to be released from Rikers.”
Lunn said case against Taylor, who served prison terms for robbery and grand larceny, hinged on the testimony of the erring eyewitness.
“There were no prints, no video – even though this was a Radio Shack,” she said. “This has been a learning process on the unreliability of eyewitnesses.”
Taylor said only, “I’m glad the nightmare is finally over.”


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