Jeffrey Deskovic returned to Ossining — just a mile from Sing Sing Correctional Facility — for the screening of a new film covering his release from prison after serving 16 years for a crime he didn’t commit.
The film Sixteen Years documents Deskovic’s arrest, conviction and exoneration for the 1989 rape and murder of Peekskill High School classmate Angela Correa, whose body was found in the woods behind Hillcrest Elementary School.
“In a way this is kind of like a homecoming of sorts,” he said during the March 26 screening at Ossining Public Library, adding: “It’s kind of surreal.”
Deskovic’s journey from convicted murderer at age 17 to 53-year-old lawyer with a foundation dedicated to freeing innocent people behind bars is indeed surreal.
It starts with the then-16-year old’s arrest after a grueling interrogation leading to a coerced confession, followed by a trial ending with a guilty verdict despite DNA testing that excluded him.
Years later, Deskovic told the audience at the library screening, he learned that one juror had originally voted for an acquittal, only to cave in to pressure from the 11 others who wanted to avoid being sequestered during the Christmas holiday.
The film by documentarian Jia Rizvi retells Deskovic’s battle against despondency and depression during his incarceration, which included a period of solitary confinement. Even his attempts to connect with a pen pal outside the walls was initially met with reprimand from his jailers. He discovered Islam through a fellow prisoner and said his Muslim faith helped him endure his circumstances.
Even after the Innocence Project’s advocacy led to his 2006 exoneration (through DNA that later identified the actual perpetrator) Deskovic struggled emotionally and financially. A turning point came when a Mercy College scholarship saved him from homelessness. In 2014, a federal jury awarded him $41 million in a wrongful conviction case, although his compensation was limited to $10 million.
None of the police officers involved in the case were willing to speak for the film, Rizvi said, and Peekskill residents also were reluctant to be interviewed.
“We had people say they weren’t sure what to believe and didn’t want to be part of it,” she said, “and so there was still that stigma that lives on even though Jeff’s been proven innocent.”
The wounds are still fresh enough that Deskovic breaks down in tears toward the film’s conclusion while hearing a recording of his 1989 questioning by Peekskill police. Allowing himself that level of vulnerability was difficult yet cathartic, he said.
“I want people to know my story,” he told the audience at the screening, which was arranged by the WESPAC Foundation and the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform. “I want people to know the pain that I went through. It’s traumatic to sit here and watch this … but I know the amount of good I’m doing far exceeds that.”
With a portion of the award from the lawsuit, the Bronx resident started the nonprofit Deskovic Foundation, which besides exoneration also advocates for laws aimed at preventing wrongful convictions.
“My case is just one case out of 3,300 cases on the National Registry of Exonerations, he said. “My biggest goal for the film is that it will continue to educate and raise awareness about the problem of wrongful incarcerations which are not rare.”
Among its work, the foundation helped overturn the conviction of Andrew Krivak, who had spent 24 years in prison for the rape and murder of 12-year old Josette Wright in Putnam County. It’s also involved in a petition drive in support of John “Divine G” Whitfield, who was portrayed by Colman Domingo in the film Sing Sing.
- Visit deskovicfoundation.org for information about the foundation, which is holding its spring fundraising gala on Thursday, April 30, in Hastings-on-Hudson.
- Visit jiarizvi.com/work to view a trailer for Sixteen Years.
- Law schools, colleges, high schools, nonprofits and other organizations interested in hosting a screening of Sixteen Years can visit JiaRizvi.com to contact the filmmaker.
