NEW YORK – Donald Kagan had been in prison for murder for more than a decade when doubts about his guilt arose from an uncommon source: the former Brooklyn judge who had convicted him.
The reason was still more extraordinary: The now-retired, white jurist felt he had been swayed by bias against Kagan, who also is white, in the killing of a black man.
On Wednesday, another judge upheld the conviction in the 1998 case.
Judge ShawnDya Simpson said she found the case emotionally wrenching, but legally, there were no grounds to reverse the conviction.
The 40-year-old Kagan says he was defending himself when he shot Wavell Wint outside a movie theater.
Then-state Supreme Court Justice Frank Barbaro heard the case without a jury. He convicted Kagan in 1999 and sentenced him to 15 years to life.
