Crime & Safety

Teaneck Cop Killer Charged with Forging Court Document

Killer used phony court ruling as basis for hearing, prosecutors allege.

One of the men convicted in the slaying of a Teaneck police officer has been charged with forging a court ruling related to his appeal, the Bergen County Prosecutor said Monday. 

Kevin Lee, who is serving life for the 1996 murder of Teaneck patrolman Robert L. Fisher, filed an appeal in April 2011. The appeal was referred to the prosecutor's office by the state's Division of Criminal Justice. 

As the state prepared a response, questions arose about a purported June 2010 appellate court decision showing Lee's cousin Kevin Richards, who was also convicted in the officer's murder, had been granted a hearing on fingerprint evidence, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. Lee used that to support his request for a similar hearing. 

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A review of the case file found a June 2005 ruling with the same docket number, but no mention of fingerprint evidence, Molinelli said. Lee is alleged to have forged the document to make it appear Richards had the hearing on fingerprints. 

Lee mailed the phony ruling to attorney Steven Gilson, who raised the issue during an appeal, Molinelli said. 

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A warrant for Lee was faxed to corrections department investigators at East Jersey State Prison, where the 38-year-old is serving life. 

Fisher, the Teaneck officer, was moonlighting as a security guard at Sears in Hackensack when he was ambushed by Lee and Richards. The unarmed officer was shot in the chest during a struggle for a box of cash.

A Bergen County grand jury convicted Lee and Richards in Fisher's death and a series of other violent crimes. Richards was also convicted in the 1996 shooting death of a gas station worker in Paramus. 

Ex-store clerk Alva McLean was acquitted in the deadly Sears robbery after prosecutors charged he had supplied inside information and drove the getaway car. 

Molinelli said a court appearance for Lee on the forgery charge was pending. 

 

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