- Joseph Gordon told The New York Times he covered up a
murder to help his son but didn't commit it. - "I was not going to put my son in
prison ," said Gordon, 78, who didn't testify at his murder trial.
Joseph Gordon, a 78-year-old Black man, has spent 28 years in a New York prison for a murder he says he didn't commit, The New York Times reported early this month in an article examining the effect that claims of innocence can have on people's release from prison. He's now asking for his freedom for the sixth time.
Gordon was sentenced in 1993 to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted over the 1991 killing of Daniel Pack, a 38-year-old neurologist.
Pack was fatally shot in Gordon's basement. Gordon's attorneys insisted their client got rid of the body but wasn't the one who committed the murder, according to a 1993 article from The Buffalo News.
"The person that committed the murder was young, very young at that time, and I did what I did in order to protect that person," Gordon told the New York State Board of Parole in 2017 during his first attempt for release, The Times reported.
"I was led to believe it was an unwanted sexual encounter," he added, "and that's the end of that part of it for me, because I'm not going to disparage Dr. Pack. I'm not going to try in any way to sully his reputation."
Sperm was found in Pack's mouth, but authorities found in 2015 that it didn't belong to Gordon or his son, who lived with him at the time, The Times said.
Gordon's attorneys alleged throughout the initial investigation that his son killed Pack — and put his son on the stand, where he insisted that his father committed the murder.
Prosecutors alleged that Pack went to the Gordon residence to work out a dispute over a $70,000 investment they said Pack made in baseball cards.
Gordon was a Westchester County baseball-card dealer, and the prosecutor James Rooney alleged that the cards were useless, according to The Buffalo
Gordon didn't publicly accuse his son, 16 at the time, of committing the murder until his second parole hearing — more than 25 years after his conviction.
At his March 2020 hearing, per The Times, Gordon said he chose to hide the body and not call the police because he wanted to protect his son: "I didn't trust the system, society. I didn't trust any of it. All I know is I wanted to take care of my son."
"I was not going to be compelled to testify against my son," Gordon said. "I was not going to put my son in prison."
"My father is a sociopath," Chad Gordon, his son, told The Times, denying any connection to the murder.
Evidence in the case continued to emerge over the years. Years before the efforts to more conclusively test the sperm found in Pack's mouth, a woman came forward in 1996 with a sworn statement about what she saw the day of the killing.
Elizabeth Deerr, a neighbor to the Gordons, told the police that she saw Gordon leave the house that day, per The Times. She said she saw a white man pull into the driveway 15 minutes later, and Chad Gordon greeting him. She also said she regretted not testifying during Gordon's trial. "Things could've been different for Joe," she told the police, according to The Times.
He's been denied parole five times since 2017, when he first became eligible, but has a sixth parole hearing in December. The New York State Board of Parole didn't confirm to Insider what the exact hearing date was.
"The board expects them to accept responsibility and express remorse," Michelle Lewin, the executive director of the Parole Preparation Project, told The Times. "People who maintain their innocence remain in an impossible situation."
The Parole Preparation Project did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from Insider.
After a conviction, the parole board typically does not "reevaluate a claim of innocence," according to appeal documents.
The New York State Board of Parole provided Insider with a statement that said:
"Prior to making a final decision, the Board members must follow the statutory requirements which take into consideration many factors, including statements made by victims and victims' families, if any, as well as an individual's criminal history, institutional accomplishments, potential to successfully reintegrate into the community, and perceived risk to public safety."
"It is not just the physical threat," Robert Tendy, the current district attorney of Putnam County, told The Times. "It is a threat that this person will be given a soapbox to preach his innocence and become part of the ever-growing movement to undermine the justice system. There is a lot of it going around these days."
Gordon works as a grievance counselor within the prison. He told The Times he'd like to get involved with community work upon his release — rejecting the idea of using a soapbox and becoming part of a movement.