3 Howard Beach Verdicts Reversed

A state appeals court has overturned the misdemeanor riot convictions and dismissed the grand jury indictments of three young white men convicted in the second Howard Beach racial attack trial.

In its unanimous ruling, the five-judge panel of the state Appellate Division in Brooklyn found that the trial judge, Thomas Demakos, had made two important errors in charging the jury. The panel said that he had given the jury an incorrect written description of the alleged crimes involved and had erred by rejecting a defense request to instruct the jury on a lesser charge of disorderly conduct.

The three men were charged with taking part in the attack on three black men three years ago outside a pizzeria in the mainly white Howard Beach section of Queens. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, was killed when the mob chased him onto a highway, where he was struck by a car.

In the first Howard Beach trial, three other white youths were convicted of manslaughter and assault. Their case is apparently unaffected by the appellate ruling, which was handed down Dec. 11 and first reported in Tuesday’s editions of the New York Post.

William Bollander, Thomas Farino and James Povinelli, all 19, were convicted in 1988 of second-degree riot but acquitted of a more serious felony riot charge for their roles in the Dec. 20, 1986, attack. Demakos sentenced the three white youths to 34 days in jail, but they were granted a stay pending appeal and spent no time in jail after their conviction.