Jabbar Collins, exonerated after wrongful conviction, named to NYC police corruption watchdog panel
A former inmate who won an almost one-man battle for his innocence after 16 years behind bars on a wrongful murder conviction was named to a New York City police corruption oversight board.
Behind bars for a 1995 murder of a rabbi in Brooklyn, Jabbar Collins, 50, taught himself the law and tirelessly filed appeals and record requests for evidence in the case before finally being exonerated by a federal judge in 2010.
He was named to the Commission to Combat Police Corruption by Mayor Adams on Tuesday.
Key to his case, Collins uncovered undisclosed evidence that one of the three witnesses against him had been given a favorable deal by prosecutors, another had been threatened by police and prosecutors and the third said he was constantly using drugs at the time of the murder and had also been coerced by authorities.
Collins settled with the city for $10 million and the state for $3 million. He has gone on to become a sought-after legal researcher and analyst with his own firm, Horizon Research Services. In 2020, for example, his work helped win the release of Emmanuelle Cooper after Cooper served 27 years on a wrongful murder conviction.
“It’s a remarkable trip that Jabbar has made from being framed by the police and prosecutors for a murder he didn’t commit to overseeing the NYPD to avoid corruption,” said lawyer Joel Rudin, who represented Collins in the civil lawsuits starting in 2005 and later hired him as a paralegal.
“Jabbar will provide an invaluable perspective concerning the effects on real people of dishonest policing,” Rudin added. “I can’t think of a more brilliant appointment.”
Adams also appointed to the board Randall Jackson, a partner with the law firm Willkie Farr and Gallagher and a former federal prosecutor. He previously handled cases against key lieutenants of Ponzi scheme architect Bernie Madoff, among other high-profile cases.
And the mayor tapped Benjamin Rosenberg, a partner at Dechert LLP and former general counsel of the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Created in 1994, the commission is charged with monitoring the anti-corruption activities of the NYPD. In past years, it has sometimes been viewed as an underfunded paper tiger known for releasing one largely ignored report a year, if that.
But Adams, a former NYPD captain before he entered politics, said the appointments underscore a commitment to promoting safety and justice for New Yorkers.
“These appointees are committed to ensuring all members of the NYPD, and the institution itself, are held to the highest to the highest ethical standards, and we thank them for answering the call to service,” he said.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks said, “These new members bring a fresh perspective to the commission to determine how we not only root out corruption but prevent it.”
