When Bronx prosecutors presented their assault case against Ronald Plaza to a jury in 2015, they showed two videos. The videos only revealed a fight between two females in a parking garage. By all accounts, the male victim was slashed and stabbed on the street in front of a nightclub.
By all accounts, there was a camera directly outside the nightclub focused on the street. So was there footage from that camera and if so, what happened to it? What did it show?
Those questions are now the subject of a hearing as Plaza, sentenced to ten-year prison term, seeks to overturn his conviction.
While in prison, Plaza filed freedom of information requests. Multiple police reports show that detectives acknowledged they saw outside-camera video. During this ongoing hearing on Plaza’s motion to overturn his conviction, the original prosecutor testified the case detective told her there was nothing relevant to the crime on the video and she never followed up to confirm that account.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Said Plaza’s defense attorney, Mark Bederow: “The prosecutors never sought to secure the video, to actually see what was on it. Ronald Plaza had a right to know about any evidence and he was kept in the dark. That’s not justice.”
Ironically, Plaza may have served his ten-year sentence before the judge rules on his motion.
