FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Brooklyn District Attorney Moves to Vacate Conviction of Man
Who Pleaded Guilty to 1988 Murder of Game Room Employee
Served Nearly 16 Years in Prison Before getting Paroled;
Reinvestigation Found Reasonable Probability He Was Not Involved in the Crime
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that following a thorough reinvestigation by his Conviction Review Unit (CRU), he will move to vacate the conviction of Brian Kendall, 55, who served nearly 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. He was paroled in 2004. The reinvestigation found that what Kendall has claimed from start – that he was at the store when a man entered and shot the worker, and that he and his friends chased after the shooter – was likely true and that he is probably innocent. The full CRU report is available here.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, ““Our system failed Brian Kendall when he was encouraged to plead guilty to a horrific crime without a full understanding of the evidence against him. Our investigation found that eyewitnesses corroborated his long-held account of events, critical evidence was not disclosed, and because we conclude he is likely innocent, we cannot stand by this conviction. This case highlights our deep commitment to correct the mistakes of the past, and I am grateful to the Legal Aid Society for their strong advocacy during this process.”
Kendall will appear in court today via video hookup at 10:15 a.m. before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic at 320 Jay Street, 15th Floor.
The District Attorney said that on February 24, 1988, at about 7 p.m., Raphael Reyes was shot and killed inside a Flatbush game room where he worked. Initial police radio runs indicated that “there’s a group apparently chasing” the shooter and a witness described him as a Black man in his 40s, adding that he walked several blocks away before entering a car and driving away.
Despite corroboration from other witnesses, Kendall, who was 17, was arrested after one man identified him, claiming he was kicked out of the store, came back, and shot the employee. A 13-year-old who was playing a video game in the store at the time of the shooting identified him as well. Although these witnesses’ accounts of Kendall’s actions, in particular his escape route, contradicted each other, Kendall was indicted for second-degree murder. In July 1989, facing a potential life sentence, Kendall pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a sentence of eight and a third to 25 years in prison. After admitting to the crime in parole hearings, he was released in 2004.
The CRU investigation revealed that police reports and audio recordings supported the defendant’s claim that another man was the shooter. It was corroborated shortly after the incident by his five friends, brother, and a friend of the deceased, and supported by the contemporaneous police dispatches. CRU spoke to the nephew of the deceased, who said he worked at the location and gave a full description of an earlier dispute with another suspect adding, “I think you got the wrong guy.”
The CRU also interviewed Kendall’s defense lawyer, who said he didn’t know that by the time of trial the 13-year-old witness may have become unavailable or that the other witness had drug problems and had been promised a letter of leniency for an unrelated criminal case. Having lost contact with some defense witnesses and thinking the prosecution had a strong case – he recommended a plea even though his client insisted he’s innocent.
The reinvestigation concluded that Kendall’s version of events is likely accurate. The fact that Kendall pleaded guilty and took responsibility during parole hearings is understandable under the circumstances and does not contravene the conclusion that he is likely innocent.
The District Attorney accordingly recommends that his conviction be vacated, and the indictment dismissed.
To date, the work of the Conviction Review Unit has resulted in 41 convictions being vacated since 2014. Currently, CRU has approximately 60 open investigations.
This case was investigated by Senior Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Height of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit, under the supervision of Charles Linehan, former Unit Chief, and Julio Cuevas, Special Counsel to CRU.
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