In 1995 Ms. Chenoweth and her crew received the unique conviction overturned, thanks largely to the testimony of a transit police officer, who stated he noticed Mr. Rojas and a pal at a practice station half a mile from the place the incident passed off at precisely the identical time the capturing occurred.
Mr. Rojas was launched after greater than 4 years in jail. But the state determined to retry the case anyway, a course of that took three extra years and the companies of one other lawyer, Jethro M. Eisenstein. Finally, in 1998, a jury discovered Mr. Rojas not responsible. The end result led to a front-page article in The New York Times about Ms. Chenoweth’s efforts. Neither of the assailants — the one who fired the gun or the one who handed it to him — had been ever discovered.
In the years afterward, Ms. Chenoweth and Mr. Rojas, who lives in North Jersey, saved in contact.
When a reporter requested why she had spent a lot time and money on defending somebody she didn’t know, Ms. Chenoweth stated the answer was easy.
“It was clear to me that it was a gross injustice,” she stated. “The legal system had harmed this man, and the legal system should right the wrong.”
Priscilla Read was born on June 7, 1930, in Brooklyn, the youngest of three sisters. Her father, Burton Read, was a stockbroker and monetary reporter who lost most of his money within the Great Depression. Her mom, Gerda (Rosenquist) Read, was a homemaker.
Along along with her son and daughter, Ms. Chenoweth is survived by one other daughter, Karin Chenoweth, and 9 grandchildren and step-grandchildren.
