Bronx man wrongfully convicted for 1997 murder set for release

Larry McKee, 47, has spent 20 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Theodore Vance. He is serving a sentence of 24 years to life. (DOCCS)

A black Bronx man's 1997 murder conviction will be vacated Monday and he will be released from prison after prosecutors uncovered evidence that the victim, with his dying breath, described having seen a Hispanic man.

Larry McKee, 47, has spent 20 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Theodore Vance. He is serving a sentence of 24 years to life.

According to testimony, McKee got in a brawl with Vance on Feb. 19, 1996, on W. 176th St. Vance clocked him with a retractable metal wand several times. McKee then ran across the street from his rival and opened fire. He shot twice, missing Vance. But his third shot mortally wounded the 29-year-old man.

That account now doesn't hold up, Bronx prosecutors say. Following a six-month investigation, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark's office found grand jury evidence not shared with McKee's defense that Vance, bleeding to death, told a witness he saw "a Spanish guy."

The failure to disclose the dying declaration warrants vacating McKee's conviction, prosecutors say.

"It's huge, when you have nothing else from the guy who is about to die. You have no other testimony saying it was a Spanish guy," McKee's attorney, Michael Talassazan said.

"It's sworn testimony. And the main fact is they should have disclosed it. That's huge. They didn't play fair. That's the whole point. They did not give Larry the chance at a fair trial."

McKee is expected to be presented before Justice Robert Torres Monday at 2:30 p.m.

The signed order requests McKee be brought from Adirondack Correctional Facility to Bronx Supreme Court "so that he may be released from custody." It notes that Clark's office "is joining motion to vacate his conviction and consenting to his release."

"Once again, our Conviction Integrity Unit has corrected a wrong from the past. We will never stop in our quest to ensure fairness and integrity in the criminal justice system," Clark said.

"The evidence raised a question as to whether the shooter had been correctly identified because McKee is black, and it should have been turned over to the defense," her office added in a release.

Papers obtained by the Daily News indicate that Talassazan found an additional witness who also said a Hispanic man shot at Vargas during the fight with McKee.

"This guy attacked him with an extending baton," Talassazan said. “Larry was fighting the guy. Next thing you know someone comes out of the woodwork and starts shooting.”

McKee always maintained his innocence and made at least two unsuccessful appeals. But if he knows the identity of the shooter, he isn't saying.

"He's not a snitch," Talassazan said. "That's kind of the code of the street in that area. It's noble in a way, yes. It's also messed up that he took a hit for somebody like that."

Talassazan said McKee still couldn't believe he was about to be a free man. It won't be real until he actually leaves the courthouse.

"Honestly man all I want to do is walk. Walk by myself. I just want to walk," Talassazan recalled him saying.

"It's a really powerful thing to say," the attorney added.

He credited Risa Gerson, an attorney with the Conviction Integrity Unit, for disclosing the grand jury testimony.

"Even though it was like a bomb going off in her office she had the guts to put it out there. She's a tough cookie, man," Talassazan said.

"You just cost the state 20 million bucks, basically," he said, alluding to an expected suit over McKee's conviction.

- ny news