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Murder convict asking for new trial over accent mix-up

A Bronx man claims he has been locked up for 21 years because the jurors who pronounced him guilty of murder never heard testimony about the difference between a Dominican accent and a Puerto Rican accent — and now his lawyer is trying to get him a new trial.

Rafael Jimenez, 39, was convicted of fatally shooting Michael Brana in the head on June 25, 1992 two blocks from Yankee Stadium and sentenced to 25 years to life.

A Puerto Rican building super who saw the murder told cops the killer spoke with a Dominican accent and yelled out “mama­guevo” — a vulgar Dominican insult — before pulling the trigger.

But Jimenez speaks Spanish “with an unmistakably heavy Puerto Rican accent,” according to papers filed by defense lawyer Rebecca Freedman of the non-profit Exoneration Initiative.

In a new affidavit, the super says he’s convinced that Jimenez is not the killer because “we Puerto Ricans use ‘cabron’ ’’ to send the same insult.

“I make this affidavit because I believe I testified against an innocent man.”

He explained his earlier testimony by saying that he’d asked cops at the time if the suspect was Dominican and they repeatedly lied and said he was.

“[The super] would never have identified Jimenez at trial if he had known that Jimenez was not Dominican . . . The detective’s misrepresentation caused [the super] to identify Jimenez at trial based upon his belief that Jimenez was Dominican,” the motion states.

The victim’s Puerto Rican wife, eyewitness Carmen Valasquez, also told cops that her husband’s killer was Dominican. The defense believes she had seen not Jimenez, but a mystery Dominican who fired the shot.

Jimenez — who was 17 and on probation for misdemeanor drug possession when Brana was killed — told The Post from a state prison near Poughkeepsie that a Puerto Rican would never say “mamaguevo.”

“I’m innocent. I’m not a killer or a murderer. I’m not the person who they said I was,’’ he said. “It’s indescribable to be snatched off the street and a third of your life is taken.”

“As with all motions of this type, the Bronx DA’s Office will conduct a full review of the case,” said Bronx district attorney spokeswoman Terry Raskyn.

Two appeals that Jimenez filed were denied in 1996 and 2001, but those earlier appeals were not based on the accent issue.