A key witness against a Harlem man sentenced to life in prison for murder 18 years ago, said Tuesday he was pressured by cops to finger the black man for the murder, even though he initially described the suspect as white.
Phillip Engleburt, 54, testified that he told police the killer of street preacher Antoine Stone was a white man — and not the man eventually convicted of murder, Robert Jones, who is black.
“I told the police, the guy on the bike was my complexion,” said Engleburt, who is white, of the September 1994 Far Rockaway slaying.
But after Engleburt couldn’t pick a suspect from a photobook of white and Hispanic potential suspects, he says the case’s lead detective pressured him to identify Jones as the bike-riding shooter.
“They said they have this guy and they were pressuring me to say it was him,” said Engleburt.
The witness said he nonchalantly pointed out Jones to make detectives “happy.”
Jones’ lawyers are asking a Queens judge to grant their client a new trial, claiming that key witnesses were forced to give false testimony.
The Queens DA is standing by the investigation and prosecution and opposes Jones’ bid for freedom.
On Monday, witness Joan Perser-Gennace, 57, said detectives threatened her and her family and demanded that she ID Jones as the man she saw outside her window shortly before Stone’s slaying.
Stone was in a romantic relationship with Jones, and police believe the fatal shooting happened after the lovers broke up.
Jones’ lawyers acknowledge the relationship, but deny their man was the killer.
Engleburt said lead detective Gerard Weiser coached him to say Jones was on a green Ross mountain bike which was found in the defendant’s home at the time of the arrest.
“They kept showing me the picture said they wanna get him, he has a long rap sheet, said they got the bike, they got this and that, I just wanted to make them happy and put this all behind me,” said Engleburt.
The recanting witness slowly grew hostile when prosecutors pushed him to explain how he was pressured to go along with the alleged police lie. Engleburt said, on multiple occasions, that he wanted to go home.
Additional reporting by David K. Li