Witness Points to Wrong Man at Mosque Murder Trial

By THUYA KYAW

A key eyewitness in the trial of the alleged gunman accused of murdering in broad daylight a Queens imam and his assistant failed to identify the defendant on Thursday — instead pointing to a random man in the courtroom. 

Juan Salcedo, the fourth witness of the day called to the the stand by deputy prosecutor Peter Lomp, was testifying about how he saw a black Chevy Trailblazer purportedly being driven by the defendant Oscar Morel as it hit a cyclist on Aug. 13, 2016, the afternoon of the killing. The witness further testified that he followed the car after the incident to write down the plate number which the evidence shows matched Morel’s. He identified the driver as a person of either Hispanic or Indian background. 

However, when he was asked to point him out in the courtroom, he selected instead a random white man sitting in a front row who looked like nothing like the defendant . 

Everybody in the courtroom seemed surprised and confused by the mistaken identification, especially the bespectacled spectator who was Identified  as the killer.

 Morel, 37, of East New York, is accused of killing Imam Maulama Aknojee and assistant Thara Uddin in the vicinity of the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque shortly after afternoon prayers, an incident that shocked the city the raised the specter of an anti-Muslim hate crime.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his defense in the opening statement accused the police of planting the murder weapon in his apartment. 

After the witness’s mistaken identification the judge adjourned the trial till Friday.