CARMEL – The 2008 New Year’s Eve Day murder of John Marcinak outside his Garrison garage shocked the close-knit community.
Anthony Grigoroff, a teenager at the time, was twice convicted of murdering the 49-year-old highly respected businessman following a botched robbery and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
In December, the State Supreme Court Appellate Division overturned the verdict and now Grigoroff’s lawyers are attempting to get his release from jail prior to the start of a third trial.
Attorneys Bruce Barket and Danielle Muscatello contend that their client’s confession to the crime was false and that Grigoroff failed to receive a fair trial.
In its four-page decision, the high court ruled that Grigoroff was “deprived of a fair trial since the sole evidence linking the defendant with the crime was his confession which he attempted to repudiate arguing that promises made by the police rendered his statements involuntary by creating a substantial risk that the defendant might falsely incriminate himself.”
Grigoroff’s confession came after 12 hours of interrogation, his attorneys said, and that in the third trial the jury should learn what causes someone to falsely confess.
The defense attorneys also told on Wednesday no evidence had been received from prosecutors against Grigoroff other than his confession.
“The counter-narrative is not that this twice-convicted murderer had his conviction overturned. The counter-narrative is that they never arrested the right person to begin with,” Muscatello.
In 2010, Grigoroff, a resident of Lake Peekskill at the time, was convicted of murdering Marcinak. However, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled in August 2015 that issues related to evidence regarding a separate shooting involving Grigoroff’s twin brother, as well as testimony from a witness who heard third-hand that Grigoroff was involved, combined to prejudice the jury.
Testimony presented during the emotionally charged trial revealed that Grigoroff had allegedly planned to burglarize the Garrison Garage on Route 9 with his twin brother, Erick and 26-year-old friend Byron Mountain to get money in order to party in New York City. In a confession obtained after a 12-hour interrogation, Grigoroff told police he and his brother stayed in the car while Mountain cased the building. He told police Marcinak interrupted the burglary and Mountain shot him although during the trial he testified that the confession had been fabricated.
He was convicted of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and attempted burglary and was sentenced by the late Putnam County Judge James Reitz to 25 years to life for the murder charge, 15 years for the weapons charge and two seven-year terms for the burglary charges, all running concurrently.
The appeal alleged that the confession was ill-gotten. The court declined that portion of the appeal ,but it did find evidence permitted at trial indicating that Erick Grigoroff was behind a shooting two months earlier was “highly prejudicial to the defendant,” and that testimony from a witness who overheard Erick Grigoroff say his brother was involved in the Garrison shooting qualified as hearsay.
Meanwhile District Attorney Robert Tendy said he and his staff had “read the high court’s decision, and while we don’t agree with the legal analysis, we are bound by the decision and are in the process of getting the case ready for re-trial.”
Grigoroff is due back in court Feb. 24 when both sides exchange any additional evidence or testimony.
Barket and Muscatello are also planning to present a bail application for Grigoroff who has been incarcerated for the past 17 years.
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