Alfred Rivera
Alleged Crime(s)
Alfred Rivera was arrested in Forsyth County for the 1996 shooting murders of James Smith and Michael Nicholson. Smith and Nicholson were both shot in the head from a close distance inside Nicholson’s apartment in Winston-Salem on March 22, 1996. Three other men--Antonio T. Bryant, Milton D. Hauser, and Ja-Hen Martin--were also involved in the crimes, the motive of which was to rob Nicholson of drug money he owed Bryant. According to Hauser and Martin, they entered the apartment and tied Nicholson’s hands before Rivera shot both Nicholson and Smith. Bryant allegedly stayed in a getaway car during the incident. Arrest & Trial Rivera was arrested in October 1996 and charged with the first-degree murders of James Smith and Michael Nicholson. In his October 1997 trial, Rivera was convicted of both murders and sentenced to death. The three other men were also charged in the double murder, and pled guilty to second-degree murder for which they each received 14-17 years in prison. Martin and Hauser agreed to testify against Rivera as a part of their plea bargains. Post-Conviction & Exoneration In April 1999, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Rivera on the grounds that the Superior Court judge should have allowed jurors in the original trial to hear testimony suggesting that Rivera was framed. While the three other men charged with the murder testified that Rivera shot Smith and Nicholson, Rivera maintained his innocence. Rivera’s attorneys Richard Ramsey and Douglas Meis presented evidence demonstrating that Rivera was not at Nicholson’s apartment at the time of the shooting. Rivera’s attorneys also presented the testimony of James Seegars, who stated that Bryant had disclosed his intention to blame the shootings on Rivera. Seegars’ testimony was ruled inadmissible in the first trial because the judge determined that it was hearsay. Jurors were also presented with evidence showing that the angle at which Smith and Nicholson were shot would have required a left-handed shooter, and Rivera is right-handed. Given the testimony and evidence presented in the new trial, the jurors determined that reasonable doubt existed that Rivera did not commit the crimes. Rivera was exonerated in November 1999, after serving 22 months on death-row. |
Location: Forsyth County, North Carolina
Crime: Murder Victim(s): James Smith, Michael Nicholson Date of Crime: March 22, 1996 Date of Conviction: 1997 Date of Exoneration: 1999 Sentence: Death Race: Hispanic Gender: Male Age at Arrest: 25 Contributing Factors: Perjury or false accusation DNA Exoneration: No Compensation: No |
Press coverage
Hinton, John (November 23, 1999) “Rivera Is Acquitted In Two Killings Once Under a Sentence of Death, He Walks Free For the First Time in 20 Years,” The Winston-Salem Journal.
Alfred "Heavy" Rivera hugged his 3-year-old son as he left the Forsyth County Jail yesterday, free from the sentence of death for the first time in two years.
Earlier in the day, a jury acquitted Rivera of two counts of first-degree murder in a March 1996 shooting.
During a trial in October 1997, Rivera, 28, was sentenced to death in the shooting deaths of two men he admitted had been his drug-dealing partners. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty again in Rivera's second trial.
Jurors in Forsyth Superior Court deliberated for six hours before they reached their verdict.
Rivera, formerly of Winston-Salem, was charged in the deaths of Michael A. Nicholson and James E. Smith. Nicholson and Smith were shot in the head at close range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street in Winston-Salem.
Rivera's family and friends cried when the clerk read the verdict. After he hugged his attorneys, Rivera thanked the jurors as they left the courtroom. "God bless you all," Rivera said.
Three jurors said they voted for acquittal because the prosecutors were unable to prove that Rivera was at the scene during the shootings.
After he was released from the Forsyth County Jail, he hugged his family and friends.
"I am going home with my daddy," his son, Bilal, said with a smile.
"I feel elated and vindicated," Rivera said. "I give all of my thanks to Allah."
The N.C. Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Rivera in April, ruling that the trial judge should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Rivera's defense was bolstered last week when James C. Seegars testified that Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant told him that Bryant had planned to blame the shootings on Rivera. Bryant was one of three men with Rivera at Nicholson's apartment, according to some testimony.
They planned to rob Nicholson because he owed Bryant $2,000 for drugs.
Seegars visited Bryant in the Forsyth County Jail in the weeks after the shootings and asked him about the killings.
"He said, 'This guy from New York, his name is Heavy, and people know guys from New York do stuff like that,' " Seegars said of New York's reputation for violence.
Three teen-agers testified last week that Rivera was one of four men whom they saw go into Nicholson's apartment before the shooting. But another witness testified that Rivera was with his pregnant girlfriend at a relative's house when the killings happened.
The jurors believed that there was reasonable doubt about Rivera's guilt, said Phillip Infinger, a juror.
"We didn't believe the teen-agers who said they saw him at the scene," Infinger said.
Jurors didn't believe that Rivera was with his girlfriend the entire day, but they thought that the other men were the shooters, said Infinger and Chris Thomsen, another juror.
Bryant, Rivera and two other men - Milton D. "Shorty" Hauser and Ja-Hen Marlin - went to the apartment March 22, 1996, prosecutors say.
Marlin and Hauser said that they went inside with Rivera, and Hauser tied Nicholson's hands with a belt. Rivera shot Nicholson in the head, and then shot Smith, they said. Bryant stayed in the getaway car and handed out guns.
Marlin, Hauser and Bryant repeated their testimony against Rivera last week. Bryant also testified that Rivera was the shooter.
Marlin, Hauser and Bryant each have pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the shootings of Nicholson and Smith. Marlin and Hauser were sentenced to prison terms of 14 years to 17 years and seven months for their roles in the double killing.
Bryant was sentenced to serve at least 15 years in prison. That sentence will begin when he completes an eight-year term in federal prison on unrelated drug convictions.
Rivera declined to testify at his second trial, but prosecutor Randall Gaylon read a transcript of the testimony that Rivera gave at his first trial.
Rivera said that he knew Hauser, Marlin and Bryant and he sold drugs with them, according to the transcript.
But Rivera denied being with them the day of the shooting.
Alfred "Heavy" Rivera hugged his 3-year-old son as he left the Forsyth County Jail yesterday, free from the sentence of death for the first time in two years.
Earlier in the day, a jury acquitted Rivera of two counts of first-degree murder in a March 1996 shooting.
During a trial in October 1997, Rivera, 28, was sentenced to death in the shooting deaths of two men he admitted had been his drug-dealing partners. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty again in Rivera's second trial.
Jurors in Forsyth Superior Court deliberated for six hours before they reached their verdict.
Rivera, formerly of Winston-Salem, was charged in the deaths of Michael A. Nicholson and James E. Smith. Nicholson and Smith were shot in the head at close range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street in Winston-Salem.
Rivera's family and friends cried when the clerk read the verdict. After he hugged his attorneys, Rivera thanked the jurors as they left the courtroom. "God bless you all," Rivera said.
Three jurors said they voted for acquittal because the prosecutors were unable to prove that Rivera was at the scene during the shootings.
After he was released from the Forsyth County Jail, he hugged his family and friends.
"I am going home with my daddy," his son, Bilal, said with a smile.
"I feel elated and vindicated," Rivera said. "I give all of my thanks to Allah."
The N.C. Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Rivera in April, ruling that the trial judge should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Rivera's defense was bolstered last week when James C. Seegars testified that Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant told him that Bryant had planned to blame the shootings on Rivera. Bryant was one of three men with Rivera at Nicholson's apartment, according to some testimony.
They planned to rob Nicholson because he owed Bryant $2,000 for drugs.
Seegars visited Bryant in the Forsyth County Jail in the weeks after the shootings and asked him about the killings.
"He said, 'This guy from New York, his name is Heavy, and people know guys from New York do stuff like that,' " Seegars said of New York's reputation for violence.
Three teen-agers testified last week that Rivera was one of four men whom they saw go into Nicholson's apartment before the shooting. But another witness testified that Rivera was with his pregnant girlfriend at a relative's house when the killings happened.
The jurors believed that there was reasonable doubt about Rivera's guilt, said Phillip Infinger, a juror.
"We didn't believe the teen-agers who said they saw him at the scene," Infinger said.
Jurors didn't believe that Rivera was with his girlfriend the entire day, but they thought that the other men were the shooters, said Infinger and Chris Thomsen, another juror.
Bryant, Rivera and two other men - Milton D. "Shorty" Hauser and Ja-Hen Marlin - went to the apartment March 22, 1996, prosecutors say.
Marlin and Hauser said that they went inside with Rivera, and Hauser tied Nicholson's hands with a belt. Rivera shot Nicholson in the head, and then shot Smith, they said. Bryant stayed in the getaway car and handed out guns.
Marlin, Hauser and Bryant repeated their testimony against Rivera last week. Bryant also testified that Rivera was the shooter.
Marlin, Hauser and Bryant each have pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the shootings of Nicholson and Smith. Marlin and Hauser were sentenced to prison terms of 14 years to 17 years and seven months for their roles in the double killing.
Bryant was sentenced to serve at least 15 years in prison. That sentence will begin when he completes an eight-year term in federal prison on unrelated drug convictions.
Rivera declined to testify at his second trial, but prosecutor Randall Gaylon read a transcript of the testimony that Rivera gave at his first trial.
Rivera said that he knew Hauser, Marlin and Bryant and he sold drugs with them, according to the transcript.
But Rivera denied being with them the day of the shooting.
Ziegenbalg, Dawn (April 10, 1999) “Death-Row Inmate Gets a New Trial Supreme Court Says Judge Erred By Excluding Evidence That Might Prove Defendant Was Framed” The Winston-Salem Journal.
The N.C. Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Alfred M. "Heavy" Rivera, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in 1997.
The Supreme Court ruled that Judge Catherine Eagles of Superior Court should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Rivera, of Winston-Salem, was accused of killing Michael A. Nicholson and his stepbrother, James E. Smith, on March 22, 1996. Both were shot in the head at point-blank range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street.
Prosecutors said that Nicholson owed more than $2,000 to Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant for drugs and that Bryant, Rivera and two other men - Milton D. "Shorty" Hauser and Ja-Hen Marlin - went to the apartment to rob Nicholson. All four men were charged with first-degree murder.
Bryant is serving an eight-year sentence in federal court for unrelated drug charges. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, which will begin when his federal sentence ends. Marlin and Hauser both pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and were sentenced to at least 14 years in prison. They agreed to testify against Rivera as part of a plea-bargain.
They said they went inside the apartment with Rivera, and Hauser tied Nicholson's hands with a belt. Rivera shot Nicholson in the head, then shot Smith, they testified. They said that Bryant stayed in the getaway car and handed out guns.
Rivera maintains he was not with the men that night. He says he didn't take part in the robbery or the killings.
Rivera's attorneys wanted James Calvin Segers, an inmate in federal prison in Missouri, to testify about a conversation he had with Bryant in the Forsyth County Jail. During that conversation, Segers said, Bryant claimed he knew two men who would blame Rivera for the killings.
Segers said that Bryant told him: "I got these two dudes here and . . . they going to say it was this dude named Heavy. . . . Those guys from New York, they do stuff like that, and people, they will believe he done that," according to court documents.
Eagles didn't let jurors hear Segers' testimony because she ruled it was hearsay and therefore inadmissible.
Clark Fischer, the attorney who presented Rivera's appeal to the Supreme Court in November, said that the testimony was a key part of the defense's case.
"By excluding evidence that clearly pointed to a conspiracy to frame (Rivera), he clearly didn't get a fair trial," Fischer said. "I guess I am prejudiced, but I certainly think the Supreme Court was dead-on right, and I'm gratified that Alfred Rivera will get off death row."
RIVERA WILL BE transferred to the Forsyth County Jail to await a new trial.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court also chastised the prosecutor in Rivera's trial, Robert A.J. Lang, for making disparaging remarks about one of the defense attorneys during a closing argument.
Lang told jurors that Richard D. Ramsey had "displayed one of the best poker faces . . . in the history of this courtroom" when a witness was called to the stand to discredit Rivera's alibi.
The Supreme Court said that Lang's remark did not meet the standards of "dignity and propriety" expected from trial lawyers.
"We have viewed with concern the apparent decline in civility in our trial courts," according to the Supreme Court's unanimous opinion, written by Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell Jr. "This court shall not tolerate . . . comments in court by one lawyer tending to disparage the personality or performance of another."
The remark, however, did not contribute to the Supreme Court's decision to grant Rivera a new trial, the ruling said.
Both Lang and District Attorney Tom Keith were out of town yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
The N.C. Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Alfred M. "Heavy" Rivera, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in 1997.
The Supreme Court ruled that Judge Catherine Eagles of Superior Court should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Rivera, of Winston-Salem, was accused of killing Michael A. Nicholson and his stepbrother, James E. Smith, on March 22, 1996. Both were shot in the head at point-blank range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street.
Prosecutors said that Nicholson owed more than $2,000 to Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant for drugs and that Bryant, Rivera and two other men - Milton D. "Shorty" Hauser and Ja-Hen Marlin - went to the apartment to rob Nicholson. All four men were charged with first-degree murder.
Bryant is serving an eight-year sentence in federal court for unrelated drug charges. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, which will begin when his federal sentence ends. Marlin and Hauser both pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and were sentenced to at least 14 years in prison. They agreed to testify against Rivera as part of a plea-bargain.
They said they went inside the apartment with Rivera, and Hauser tied Nicholson's hands with a belt. Rivera shot Nicholson in the head, then shot Smith, they testified. They said that Bryant stayed in the getaway car and handed out guns.
Rivera maintains he was not with the men that night. He says he didn't take part in the robbery or the killings.
Rivera's attorneys wanted James Calvin Segers, an inmate in federal prison in Missouri, to testify about a conversation he had with Bryant in the Forsyth County Jail. During that conversation, Segers said, Bryant claimed he knew two men who would blame Rivera for the killings.
Segers said that Bryant told him: "I got these two dudes here and . . . they going to say it was this dude named Heavy. . . . Those guys from New York, they do stuff like that, and people, they will believe he done that," according to court documents.
Eagles didn't let jurors hear Segers' testimony because she ruled it was hearsay and therefore inadmissible.
Clark Fischer, the attorney who presented Rivera's appeal to the Supreme Court in November, said that the testimony was a key part of the defense's case.
"By excluding evidence that clearly pointed to a conspiracy to frame (Rivera), he clearly didn't get a fair trial," Fischer said. "I guess I am prejudiced, but I certainly think the Supreme Court was dead-on right, and I'm gratified that Alfred Rivera will get off death row."
RIVERA WILL BE transferred to the Forsyth County Jail to await a new trial.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court also chastised the prosecutor in Rivera's trial, Robert A.J. Lang, for making disparaging remarks about one of the defense attorneys during a closing argument.
Lang told jurors that Richard D. Ramsey had "displayed one of the best poker faces . . . in the history of this courtroom" when a witness was called to the stand to discredit Rivera's alibi.
The Supreme Court said that Lang's remark did not meet the standards of "dignity and propriety" expected from trial lawyers.
"We have viewed with concern the apparent decline in civility in our trial courts," according to the Supreme Court's unanimous opinion, written by Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell Jr. "This court shall not tolerate . . . comments in court by one lawyer tending to disparage the personality or performance of another."
The remark, however, did not contribute to the Supreme Court's decision to grant Rivera a new trial, the ruling said.
Both Lang and District Attorney Tom Keith were out of town yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Hinton, John (November 25, 1999) “Acquittal of Rivera is Atypical: He is First Inmate in the State to Be Released from Death Row Since ‘89” The Winston-Salem Journal.
Alfred M. "Heavy" Rivera became the first person in North Carolina since 1989 to be freed from death row when he was acquitted of two charges of first-degree murder, officials said yesterday.
Rivera 's acquittal Monday was a rare event, said Kenneth Rose, the executive director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation Inc. in Durham. The center monitors the legal status of death-row inmates in the state.
" Rivera may have been executed, and he would have been innocent," Rose said.
During a trial in October 1997, Rivera was convicted and sentenced to death in the shooting deaths of two men.
Michael A. Nicholson and James E. Smith were shot in the head at close range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street March 22, 1996, in Winston-Salem.
Police charged Rivera and three other men with murder. Three of Rivera 's co-defendants pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to at least 14 years in prison.
The N.C. Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Rivera in April, ruling that the trial judge should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Prosecutors were asking for the death penalty again in Rivera 's second trial. The co-defendants testified at his second trial that Rivera was the shooter.
Rivera proclaimed his innocence in both trials. He admitted selling illegal drugs, but he insisted he wasn't involved in the shootings.
Rivera said that while he awaited the verdict in his second trial, he had flashbacks of the clerk reading the guilty verdicts in his first trial.
"I was so shocked when I heard not guilty," Rivera said. "I had my doubts in the system."
Rivera is just the second person released from death row and prison in North Carolina since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1977, state officials and Rose said.
Timothy B. Hennis of Cumberland County was freed from death row in April 1989 after he was acquitted of a murder charge at his second trial.
Nationwide, 83 death-row inmates have been freed since the 1970s. Rivera spent two years on death row. The average time an inmate spends on death row is 7 1/2 years, according to statistics from Rose's center.
Richard Ramsey and Douglas Meis, Rivera 's attorneys, spent about 400 hours preparing Rivera 's defense and representing Rivera during the two-week trial in Forsyth Superior Court, Ramsey said.
After the trial, Ramsey and Meis spoke to nine jurors who said that the attorneys proved that Rivera wasn't present at the scene when the two men were shot, and that three other men were responsible for the deaths, Meis said.
The jurors also believed the testimony of James Seegars, who testified that Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant told him that Bryant had planned to blame the shootings on Rivera , Meis said. Bryant was one of the three men with Rivera at Nicholson's apartment, according to some testimony.
Ramsey said in his closing argument that Rivera was innocent because the angle of gunshot wounds on the two men indicated that the shooter was left-handed, and Rivera isright-handed.
Rivera said he will consider a job offer in Lexington, but he has plans to move to New York City.
"I want to leave Winston-Salem and put my past behind me," Rivera said. "I want to start a new life."
Alfred M. "Heavy" Rivera became the first person in North Carolina since 1989 to be freed from death row when he was acquitted of two charges of first-degree murder, officials said yesterday.
Rivera 's acquittal Monday was a rare event, said Kenneth Rose, the executive director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation Inc. in Durham. The center monitors the legal status of death-row inmates in the state.
" Rivera may have been executed, and he would have been innocent," Rose said.
During a trial in October 1997, Rivera was convicted and sentenced to death in the shooting deaths of two men.
Michael A. Nicholson and James E. Smith were shot in the head at close range inside Nicholson's apartment in the 900 block of East Third Street March 22, 1996, in Winston-Salem.
Police charged Rivera and three other men with murder. Three of Rivera 's co-defendants pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to at least 14 years in prison.
The N.C. Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Rivera in April, ruling that the trial judge should have allowed jurors to hear testimony that Rivera may have been framed.
Prosecutors were asking for the death penalty again in Rivera 's second trial. The co-defendants testified at his second trial that Rivera was the shooter.
Rivera proclaimed his innocence in both trials. He admitted selling illegal drugs, but he insisted he wasn't involved in the shootings.
Rivera said that while he awaited the verdict in his second trial, he had flashbacks of the clerk reading the guilty verdicts in his first trial.
"I was so shocked when I heard not guilty," Rivera said. "I had my doubts in the system."
Rivera is just the second person released from death row and prison in North Carolina since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1977, state officials and Rose said.
Timothy B. Hennis of Cumberland County was freed from death row in April 1989 after he was acquitted of a murder charge at his second trial.
Nationwide, 83 death-row inmates have been freed since the 1970s. Rivera spent two years on death row. The average time an inmate spends on death row is 7 1/2 years, according to statistics from Rose's center.
Richard Ramsey and Douglas Meis, Rivera 's attorneys, spent about 400 hours preparing Rivera 's defense and representing Rivera during the two-week trial in Forsyth Superior Court, Ramsey said.
After the trial, Ramsey and Meis spoke to nine jurors who said that the attorneys proved that Rivera wasn't present at the scene when the two men were shot, and that three other men were responsible for the deaths, Meis said.
The jurors also believed the testimony of James Seegars, who testified that Antonio T. "Sunshine" Bryant told him that Bryant had planned to blame the shootings on Rivera , Meis said. Bryant was one of the three men with Rivera at Nicholson's apartment, according to some testimony.
Ramsey said in his closing argument that Rivera was innocent because the angle of gunshot wounds on the two men indicated that the shooter was left-handed, and Rivera isright-handed.
Rivera said he will consider a job offer in Lexington, but he has plans to move to New York City.
"I want to leave Winston-Salem and put my past behind me," Rivera said. "I want to start a new life."