Co-defendant in murder of young girl to remain behind bars while awaiting new trial

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CARMEL – One of the major stories of 2016 evolved around the acquittal of twice convicted murderer Anthony DiPippo who had spent more than two decades in a maximum security penitentiary for the brutal rape and murder of a 12-year-old Carmel girl.

His co-defendant in the case, Andrew Krivak, who remains behind bars at the Putnam Correctional Facility while awaiting a new trial, was denied release on his own recognizance or on bail in a decision handed down by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court.

Krivak

Justices Cheryl Chambers, Colleen Duffy, Hector LaSalle and Angela Iannacci dismissed Krivak’s “writ of habeas corpus in the nature of an application to release Andrew Krivak on his own recognizance or to set reasonable bail.”

Krivak returned to Putnam County from an upstate prison in May to learn that he will have his day in court later this year after Westchester Supreme Court Justice David Zuckerman officiating in Putnam County Court since Putnam’s judges recused themselves, threw out Krivak’s 1997 conviction for raping and murdering Josette Wright.

In January, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled that the convicted murderer was entitled to a hearing in order to decide whether the former Patterson resident was entitled to a new trial.

Acting Putnam Court Judge Victor Alfieri, who has since retired, denied Krivak’s request in 2016 without a hearing to vacate the judgment rendered on June 11, 1997 by former Putnam County Judge William Braatz after a jury found Krivak guilty of murder and rape in the death of  the Carmel Middle School seventh grader.

In 1995, one year after the child’s family reported her missing, Josette’s skeletal remains were discovered by a hunter along Fields Lane at the Southeast-Patterson border.

Krivak and DiPippo were arrested in 1996 in connection with the child’s death.

According to court documents, while in custody, Krivak confessed to law enforcement officials that he and DiPippo raped and murdered Wright. Both men were ordered a new trial on grounds that they were denied the “effective assistance of trial counsel because his trial attorney had operated under a conflict of interest.”

The Court of Appeals then reversed DiPippo’s judgment of conviction and ordered a new trial since the court ruled that DiPippo should have “been permitted to present to the jury evidence of third party culpability.”

The jury acquitted DiPippo of the crimes.

Judge Zuckerman ordered a new trial for Krivak after hearing the same testimony that a Connecticut sex offender, Howard Gombert, already in prison, had made statements to a fellow inmate implicating himself in the crime.

Krivak contended his confession was false because it was coerced by sheriff’s investigators.

Judge Zuckerman has scheduled the next hearing in the case for Sept. 12.




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