Mark Fisher

The murder of Mark Fisher occurred in the early morning hours of October 12, 2003, when the 19-year-old college student was beaten, shot five times, and left on Argyle Road in Prospect Park South, Brooklyn.

On October 19, 2005, co-defendants Antonio Russo and John Giuca were convicted of second-degree felony murder for Fisher's death and sentenced to 25 years to life for his murder. He was a Lenape Valley Regional High School football star and Fairfield University sophomore. He was studying to be an accountant, and was on the Dean's List. By chance, Fisher ran into fellow Fairfield University student, Angel DiPietro.

That evening, DiPietro met up with another friend of hers, Albert Cleary. Giuca claimed he last saw Fisher around 5 a.m., falling asleep sitting on his sofa under a yellow blanket.

At 5:23 a.m., Fisher withdrew $20 from a nearby ATM.

Shooting At 6:40 a.m., police responded to gunfire reports and within minutes found Fisher's body face down at the foot of a driveway on nearby Argyle Road. The police recovered two .22 caliber shell casings at the scene. In the 24 hours afterward, there were 26 phone calls between the two. According to police records, Russo cut his long worn dreadlocks and a few days later he flew to California.

Arrest and indictment

Antonio Russo Russo was arrested at his home on November 23, 2004, 13 months after Fisher's murder. Russo was indicted on two counts of second degree murder, three counts of robbery, and weapons charges. On September 30, 2004, three months before his felony indictment, Giuca was arrested on a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, street corner for selling narcotics while wearing a bulletproof vest. but with two separate juries.

The prosecution argued that Giuca and Russo, members of a street gang dubbed "Ghetto Mafia", beat and shot Fisher on October 12, 2003, out of machismo, a need for street credibility, and because Fisher was a rich kid who made an easy target. Giuca’s best friend, Albert Cleary, testified that before the shooting, Giuca worried that his crew was "getting soft” and needed to "get a body.”

Witnesses, including Giuca’s girlfriend at the time, testified to Giuca’s involvement in the murder, including providing the gun to Russo.

Verdict and sentencing In October 2005, two years after Fisher's murder, Giuca and Russo were sentenced to 25 years to life. The judge said: "This was a callous crime, and the defendants’ reactions were callous—brutal, callous, and shockingly senseless. So my sentence will be callous." The court denied Giuca's motion. He appealed the decision. The New York Appellate Division 2nd Department denied the request for a hearing to review evidence of juror misconduct against former juror Jason Allo.

In November 2010, a panel of four state Supreme Court judges ruled that even if the alleged statements the juror Jason Allo had made were true, there were no grounds for overturning his conviction.

On May 14, 2013, Judge Frederic Block of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied Giuca's federal habeas petition.

In February 2014, Giuca's attorney submitted a petition to the newly elected Brooklyn District Attorney, Kenneth P. Thompson, requesting that the conviction be reviewed and voided due to prosecutorial misconduct, a failure by the defense lawyer at trial to point out multiple inconsistencies, and recantation of testimony by key witnesses. In January 2015, Thompson, who established the Conviction Review Unit in NYC, announced that after a thorough review, the department determined there was no wrongdoing in the case: "I have determined that John Giuca's conviction for the murder of Mark Fisher is just and should not be vacated." The judge ruled that Giuca had received a fair trial. Giuca's attorney stated that he would appeal the verdict.

On February 7, 2018, a four-judge panel of the New York State Second Judicial Department Appeals Court in Brooklyn unanimously overturned Giuca's conviction and ordered a new trial. It ruled that the district attorney's office had withheld evidence from the defense.

On March 22, 2018, Russo confessed to killing Fisher. In a statement passed to Giuca's lawyer, Russo told detectives that he had murdered Fisher and that the gun was his.

On June 28, 2018, New York's highest court announced it would hear Giuca's case, with oral arguments scheduled for April 30, 2019.

On June 11, 2019, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the appeals court decision, and reinstated Giuca's murder conviction. Chief Judge of the State of New York Janet DiFiore, who wrote for the majority, disagreed with the lower court in Brooklyn that information never turned over to the defense about favors the prosecution had done for a key witness would have changed the course of the trial, "there is no reasonable possibility that the verdict would have been different if the information at issue had been disclosed."

2019–present On August 6, 2019, Giuca's legal team filed a third motion to vacate his conviction based on new evidence. A hearing for these claims was scheduled for January 2021.

Support Looking for evidence to overturn her son's conviction, Doreen Giuliano began an unsanctioned inquiry of the jurors targeting juror Jason Allo. Using the alias Dee Quinn, Giuliano rented an apartment close to Allo's residence, transformed her appearance, and established a close relationship with him. Giuliano recorded her conversations and submitted audio of Allo making antisemitic comments about Giuca to the State Supreme Court in an appeal of Giuca's conviction. Giuliano's conduct was condemned by Judge Alan Marrus.