Michael Green, Admitted Fabricator in Kareem Bellamy Murder Case, Fooled Polygraph

[George W. Maschke]

A man who admits forging exculpatory evidence in a New York murder case reportedly beat several polygraph tests, evidently without any sophisticated knowledge of polygraph procedure or countermeasures. Michael Green earlier this year fabricated a confession tape to help gain the release of Kareem Bellamy, who in 1995 on the basis of thin evidence was convicted of murder in a case received considerable media attention. Green believes that to fool the polygraph, "You just have to be calm and collected."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/nyregion/06bellamy.html

Man Admits Lying to Free Convicted Killer
By JOHN ELIGON
Published: December 5, 2008

Michael Green was granted immunity to testify in a Queens courtroom on Friday, and he apparently needed it.

Mr. Green testified he had created two fraudulent audiotapes, lied under oath and, by remaining calm and collected, had beaten several polygraph tests, including one about the fake tapes.

When the prosecution asked why the court should believe him now, Mr. Green responded, "Everything I said to you today is the God heaven truth."

Mr. Green, who was spared perjury charges by prosecutors, testified about the fraudulent audiotapes he had produced earlier in the year. One of the tapes, on which a man claiming to be Levon Ishmael Melvin confessed to the 1994 killing of James Abbott in Queens, helped earn Kareem Bellamy his freedom.

Mr. Bellamy, 41, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder. After the tape surfaced, Justice Joel L. Blumenfeld of State Supreme Court in Queens vacated Mr. Bellamy's conviction and released him on bail in August. But when Mr. Melvin learned of his supposed confession, prosecutors have said, he had his lawyer contact the authorities to say that he was not the killer and had not made the confession.

That led to the hearing that began on Thursday in which prosecutors are trying to get Mr. Bellamy's conviction reinstated. Mr. Bellamy remains out on bail and must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle.

Under questioning from Brad A. Leventhal, an assistant district attorney, Mr. Green admitted on Friday to lying. In a hearing in the summer, Mr. Green had testified to the tape's authenticity.

On Friday, he said he actually made the tape with a friend, Jonathan Tatum, and that Mr. Melvin, a neighborhood friend, had never confessed to the killing of Mr. Abbott.

Mr. Melvin testified on Thursday that he never made a confession to Mr. Green.

Mr. Green said he staged the recording after Mr. Bellamy's lawyer, Thomas Hoffman, showed him tapes and letters in which Mr. Bellamy claimed to be innocent. "I felt sorry for the guy after they showed me all that stuff," Mr. Green testified. "I just went out, made a tape, brought the tape back to them."

Mr. Hoffman did not know the tape was fake until after Mr. Bellamy's release, Mr. Green said.

Mr. Green also testified that he did it for money, saying he received about $6,000 from Mr. Hoffman, including $1,000 for another fraudulent tape in which he got a relative to pretend to be a witness. Mr. Green spent the money in Atlantic City, he said.

Mr. Hoffman has denied giving Mr. Green money for anything other than relocation expenses typically given to informants.

Mr. Leventhal asked Mr. Green, who is scheduled to return for cross examination on Jan. 5, how he was able to pass a polygraph test that defense lawyers gave him.

"You go in there with your pulse beating at its normal speed — that's how you beat it," Mr. Green said. "You just have to be calm and collected."

Mr. Green also said he had beaten other, unrelated polygraph tests. Why, then, Mr. Leventhal asked, did he refuse to take a polygraph during a meeting with prosecutors?

"I wasn't ready for one," he said. "I didn't get myself together. You would've caught me."

Had Mr. Green understood polygraph procedure and countermeasures, he might have "had himself together" for the prosecutors' proffered polygraph, too.