The Exoneration of Andrew Krivak
Andrew Krivak outside the Putnam County Courthouse on Jan. 18, 2023, before opening statements in his retrial
In 1997, Andrew Krivak and his co-defendant Anthony DiPippo were convicted of the rape and murder of a 12-year old girl, who disappeared from her home in Carmel, NY on October 4, 1994. No physical evidence connected Krivak or DiPippo to the victim or the crime scene. The key witness against Krivak and DiPippo was a 17 year old girl, Denise Rose, recently arrested for reckless driving and DUI, who had previously dated DiPippo. Initially, she denied knowning anything about the crime, but over three weeks of questioning by Putnam County Sheriff's Department detectives, she came to claim to have witnessed the crime, and that it had been committed by both Krivak and DiPippo. The department then spent two months trying to pressure friends and acquaintances to of Krivak and DiPippo to corroborate Rose’s claims without success.
On July 1, 1996, nearly two years after the murder, detectives interviewed Krivak, then 18 years old, and after seven hours of interrogation, extracted a false confession from Krivak that closely matched Roses's claims. One of the team participating in the interrogation was Daniel Stephens, a polygraph operator who had previously used a fake polygraphy examination to extract a false murder confession from the 16 year old Jeffrey Deskovic. Thirteen years later, DNA evidence proved Deskovic was actually innocent of the crime to which he falsely confessed, he was fully exonerated, and a federal jury found that Stephens had conspired to deprive him of his civil rights and to fabricate evidence.
The interrogators witheld a critical fact. Investigators from the Carmel Police Department had identified another man, Howard Gombert, as the likely perpetrator of the crime, and suspected him in the murder of a second young girl that disappeared around the same time.
Krivak was tried seperately from DiPippo, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years to life on June 11, 1997. DiPippo was tried immediately afterwards, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years to life on July 11, 1997. On appeal, Krivak’s conviction was affirmed, but DiPippo’s conviction was reversed, due to a conflict of interest – the same attorney that represented DiPippo at his trial had also represented Howard Gombert, the man suspected of the murder by the Carmel police. DiPippo was then tried again and convicted. His second conviction was also reversed, this time because evidence had been kept from the jury that Gombert, now serving a prison sentence Connecticut for abusing a 9 year old girl, had also confessed to the murder of the girl DiPippo and Krivak were accused of murdering. On October 11, 2016, after a third trial, DiPippo was finally acquitted of all charges.
Krivak remained imprisoned for the crime that he and DiPippo allegedly committed together. The Foundation brought in a legal team that overturned Krivak’s conviction after 24 years of wrongful imprisonment, and the appeal of Putnam County DA Robert Tendy’s office of the reversal was denied by the Appellate Division and the NY Court of Appeals. Despite the same evidence that exonerated DiPippo, and new DNA evidence that found no trace of Krivak or DiPippo’s DNA at the crime scene, we still wait for justice to be done. The Putnam County DA insisted on a retrial. Pending a retrial, Andy was released on bail after our founder Jeffrey Deskovic put up his house for bail and his former co-defendant Anthony DiPippo put up the bail premium.
At the retrial, Krivak was represented by Foundation defense attorney Oscar Michelen and defense attorney Karen Neuwirth. The prosecution case was personally presented by Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy. The defense highlighted the numerous inconsistencies in the case. The case went to the jury on February 27, 2023, and that same day the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. After 24 years in prison and three years under house arrest pending retrial, Andrew Krivak has finally been exonerated.
At a restaurant after the acquittal, from L to R: Anthony DiPippo (Krivak’s co-defendant who was previously acquitted); Andrew Krivak, Sr.; Jeffrey Deskovic and Andrew Krivak.
References
Free After 25 Years: Defendant Retried for 1994 Killing of NY Girl Found Not Guilty by Sarah Wallace, February 27, 2023, NBC New York
Defense Assails Putnam Investigators in Krivak Retrial by Jonathan Bandler, February 8, 2023, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
‘I'm Ready:' Man Faces High-Stakes Retrial in Murder of 12-Year-Old NY Girl by Sarah Wallace, November 4, 2022, NBC New York
Krivak Released on Bail in Putnam Murder Case by Chip Rowe, Editor, October 26, 2020, The Highlands Current
Andrew Krivak Released from Prison After 24 Years, Says He Was Wrongfully Convicted by Anna Young, October 26, 2020, The Examiner News
Depippo Found Not Guilty After Third Trial, Andrew Krivak Files Appeal by Holly Toal, October 19, 2016, Putnam County Times
Defense for Krivak Fights For New Trial Stemming from 1994 Crime by David Propper, October 18, 2016, The Examiner News
NOT GUILTY Verdict for Anthony DiPippo, Friday, December 16th, 2016, Putnam County Times
YouTube
Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 190: The Exoneration of Andrew Krivak, Vanguard New Group
Jeff discusses Putnam County "not wanting to admit error" re Krivak and DiPippo, CBS
Man Wrongfully Convicted Released from Prison, WPIX 11
Wrongfully Convicted, ABC