- Joseph Gordon admits he covered up a murder to protect his son, but he insists he didn't commit it.
- "I was not going to be compelled to testify against my son," said Gordon.
- The New York State Board of Parole will not release him unless he admits his guilt.
Joseph Gordon, a 78-year-old Black man, has spent 28 years in a New York prison for a murder he says he did not commit, The New York Times reported. He's asking for his freedom for the sixth time.
Gordon was sentenced in 1993 to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted for the 1991 murder of Daniel Pack, a 38-year-old neurologist.
Pack was fatally shot in Gordon's basement. Gordon's attorneys insist that he got rid of the body but was not the one that committed the murder, according to a 1993 article from Buffalo News.
"The person that committed the murder was young, very young at that time, and I did what I did in order to protect that person," Gordon told the New York State Board of Parole, in 2017 during his first attempt for release.
"I was led to believe it was an unwanted sexual encounter," he added, "and that's the end of that part of it for me, because I'm not going to disparage Dr. Pack. I'm not going to try in any way to sully his reputation."
Sperm was found in Pack's mouth, but authorities found that it didn't belong to Gordon or his son, who lived with him at the time.
Gordon's attorneys alleged that his son killed Pack throughout the initial investigation — going so far as to put his son on the stand, where he insisted that his father committed the murder.
Prosecutors, however, alleged that Pack went to the Gordon residence to work out a dispute over a $70,000 investment he made in baseball cards.
Gordon was a Westchester County baseball card dealer and prosecutor James Rooney alleged that the cards were useless — according to Buffalo News.
Gordon didn't say that his son, 16 at the time, committed the murder until his second parole hearing — more than 25 years after his guilty conviction.
At his March 2020 hearing, Gordon said he chose to hide the body and not call the police because he wanted to protect his son: "I didn't trust the system, society. I didn't trust any of it. All I know is I wanted to take care of my son."
"I was not going to be compelled to testify against my son," said Gordon. "I was not going to put my son in prison."
"My father is a sociopath," Chad Gordon, his son, told The Times, denying any connection to the murder.
Elizabeth Deerr, a neighbor to the Gordon's, told the police that she saw Gordon leave the house the day of the murder. She said she saw "a white man" pull into the driveway 15 minutes later, and Chad greeting him. She also said she regrets not testifying during the initial trial: "Things could've been different for Joe," she told the police, according to The Times.
He's been denied parole fives times since 2017 — after being imprisoned for 25 years — but has a sixth parole hearing in December. The New York State Board of Parole did not confirm to Insider what the exact hearing date is.
"The board expects them to accept responsibility and express remorse," said Michelle Lewin, executive director of the Parole Preparation Project, to The Times. "People who maintain their innocence remain in an impossible situation." The Parole Preparation Project did not immediately respond to Insider's request for additional comment.
After a conviction, the Board typically does not "reevaluate a claim of innocence," according to appeal documents.
The New York State Board of Parole provided Insider with a statement which said:
"Prior to making a final decision, the Board members must follow the statutory requirements which take into consideration many factors, including statements made by victims and victims' families, if any, as well as an individual's criminal history, institutional accomplishments, potential to successfully reintegrate into the community, and perceived risk to public safety."
"It is not just the physical threat," Robert Tendy, the current district attorney of Putnam County, said to The Times. "It is a threat that this person will be given a soapbox to preach his innocence and become part of the ever-growing movement to undermine the justice system. There is a lot of it going around these days."
Gordon works as a grievance counselor within the prison. He told The Times that he'd like to get involved with community work upon his release — rejecting the idea of using a soapbox and becoming part of a movement.
