After 22 years in prison, Georgia man fighting for new trial says jury should hear DNA evidence
Sonny Bharadia says after 22 years behind bars his case is proof new evidence doesn’t always mean a new trial. He's hoping a Gwinnett County judge changes that.
True crime shows have exploded in the past decade, perhaps blurring our expectations of how our judicial system works. As it turns out, new evidence doesn’t always mean a new trial.
That’s the question right now before Gwinnett County Judge Laura Tate.
In the past 22 years, Sandeep "Sonny" Bharadia has tried just about every other option to get a new trial. He’s now filed a habeas corpus petition, basically a legal argument that he is being wrongfully detained and should be found innocent, or at least get a new trial.
If Tate disagrees, he will die in prison. A decision could come at any time.
“Most nights I sleep, I cry myself to sleep to this day. It just hurts, it’s like you want this pain to stop. And the person who did the crime keeps getting out of prison," Bharadia said. "Where’s the justice in that? I try not to lose hope, try not to lose faith."
He needs to hold on to hope his attorney said.
“Every time there is some kind of procedural bar that's put up or some argument that's made, that becomes a fact in the case that then prevents Sonny from getting relief,” said Christina Cribbs, Bharadia’s senior attorney at the Georgia Innocence Project.
One of those big procedural bars involves DNA evidence. Police found the batting gloves used by the person who committed the crime. But it wasn’t until after the trial, as DNA technology evolved, that they were tested.
Turns out, Bharadia’s DNA was not found on the gloves.
“What they did is sort of cut out little pieces of the fabric and they pulled the DNA from those little pieces of fabric,” explained Cribbs.
It wasn’t until 2012, that the DNA was tested against CODIS, a database of convicted offenders and unsolved crimes. There was a hit. The skin cells found on the gloves matched Sterling Flint, the man who testified against Bharadia.
It’s key evidence the courts have repeatedly ruled Bharadia’s attorneys should have presented at his trial in 2003. But Cribbs argues the technology to do this kind of DNA testing was rarely used at the time.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation forensic biology manager James Sebestyan testified at Bharadia’s hearing this summer and said that in 2003, the GBI primarily tested DNA on blood, semen, and hair. These are DNA of cells – or touch DNA.
“Nothing ties my client to this case forensically. The person testifying against him as the state's key witness was the only person whose DNA is present at the scene. If the jury knew now what we all knew now, I think there's no question they would not have convicted him,” explains Bharadia’s attorney Holly Pierson.
But the state has argued the victim believes two people could have been involved in the attack. While she recalls seeing them on the suspect during the robbery, he was not wearing them during the sexual assault. The state also argues the gloves found might be a different set than the ones used. So the lack of Bharadia's DNA is only one factor in his potential involvement in the crime.
Bharadia believes Flint’s effort to pin the crime on him was retaliation. Bharadia said he had no idea an assault had occurred when he called to report Flint, an acquaintance of his, he had stolen his car and was also in possession of a stolen motorcycle. Bharadia said Flint then threatened to kill him.
It was during that investigation that police discovered items belonging to the sexual assault victim, including the blue and white batting gloves. When police questioned Sterling about it, he denied any involvement and said the stolen items were Bharadia’s.
“It’s been 7,872 days,” Bharadia told Tate. “I’ve lost my dad, I’ve lost a lot. I’ve lost my life.”
Bharadia has always maintained his innocence.
It’s why when offered a plea deal to serve 10 years, he said no. Forced then to go to trial, a jury found him guilty of aggravated sodomy, sexual battery, and burglary.
“I did everything I’m supposed to do. I provided everything I’m supposed to provide. And that’s all I can do,” said Bharadia.
The DNA Shadow of a Doubt
On Nov. 19, 2001, a young school teacher came home to her apartment just outside Savannah. She thought she was alone when she returned from Sunday church service, but there was a man inside.
Once they locked eyes, she said he marched towards her, put his glove-covered hand over her mouth and forced her into the bedroom. Over the next hour, she was bound, blindfolded, assaulted and robbed.
Bharadia said he was in metro Atlanta at the time of the attack, more than 250 miles away from the crime and gave police a detailed description of everywhere he went around the time of the crime.
The woman told police the man who attacked her was wearing blue and white batting gloves. Those gloves, as well as a knife and some of the woman’s other belongings, were found inside Ashleigh Dold Brown's house, who was Sterling Flint's girlfriend at the time.
Flint told police he was holding the items for Bharadia. He pled guilty to theft by receiving stolen property and agreed to testify against Bharadia. While Bharadia got life in prison, Flint walked away with a two-year sentence and credit for time served.
No jury has ever seen the DNA test results connecting Flint to the crime scene.
According to jury foreman Ainsley Aris, the jury's guilty verdict was based on testimony.
“For us, it seemed pretty clear beyond a reasonable doubt for us that it was him,” Aris explained.
Upon learning about the DNA results, Aris’ confidence in the jury’s decision was shaken.
“That is quite shocking. You know something needs to be done about that. That’s alarming. Wow, I hope that the new DNA evidence is hopefully submitted and he gets a new trial,” Aris said.
A key witness in Bharadia’s trial said the DNA evidence has changed her mind about her testimony. Ashleigh Brown said she didn’t have all the facts when she took the stand in 2003. Now, she fears that the wrong man might have spent the last 22 years in jail.
Brown said she was called to the witness stand at the last minute to testify about some stolen items from the victim’s apartment that were found in Flint’s possession. She told the jury that Flint said he’d gotten the stolen items from Bharadia.
“At the time I didn't know how bad it was. I just thought the house had been robbed. I didn't know there was a sexual assault involved. I didn't know any of that. And so when they called me and put me on the stand, I just told them what Sterling had told me, that we're holding it for Sonny,” Brown said.
One of the stolen items, the victim’s computer, was stashed in a U-Haul right outside Brown’s sister's house. That truck was parked only 1,000 feet away from where the crime took place.
“I just can't believe that it happened right behind her house and she wasn't aware of it. I didn't know until just now. Wow, it really bothers me,” she said choking back tears.
It's not just new DNA Shadow of a Doubt
It’s not just the DNA.
In the court filing, Bharadia’s attorneys say in the past two decades, a “tsunami of prejudicial errors and constitutional violations led to Bharadia’s wrongful conviction. No one bothered to verify his alibi. Inexperienced and certified police officers lost or destroyed evidence.”
Now, attorneys with the Georgia Innocence Project are trying to prove Bharadia’s previous legal representation made critical mistakes, failing to provide him with effective counsel. For several hours, two of his previous attorneys were asked questions about missing evidence and conflicting statements to determine why they were not challenged.
At his habeas hearing several of Bharadia’s previous attorneys testified, pleading in their own way for the judge to help fix their mistakes.
“I missed that. I just, I don’t know why. I just, partly want to use sort of the excuse that this case just got bigger and bigger and bigger,” said attorney Steven Sparger.
Caleb Banks put it even more succinctly.
“I failed,” Bankes said.
But the state countered arguing that the standard isn’t perfect performance and that just because the attorneys weren’t successful in getting Bharadia a not guilty verdict or new trial, didn’t mean they were ineffective at their job.
The state knows there’s one piece of evidence that’s hard to ignore. At trial, the victim pointed at Bharadia, insisting he was the man who attacked her.
The Trial Shadow of A Doubt
At the time of his 2003 trial, Bharadia felt confident his alibis would clear his name. However, a misunderstanding about the release date of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” may have discredited his defense.
Two witnesses and Bharadia testified that he was in metro Atlanta—more than 250 miles away from Thunderbolt, working on a friend’s car at the time of the attack. One of those witnesses was Bharadia’s friend, Kisha Pitts.
According to court transcripts, Pitts was adamant she saw Bharadia on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2001, because both he and his girlfriend took her kids to see "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" the night before. On Sunday, Pitts said Bharadia stopped by to borrow some tools.
Pitts’ confidence in her testimony appeared to be a win for the defense.
That victory was short-lived when the second witness—Alicia Colbert—took the stand.
Colbert was Bharadia’s girlfriend. She vouched for Bharadia’s whereabouts in Atlanta and confirmed that she accompanied Sonny and the kids to the Harry Potter movie. The problem is Colbert told the court this all transpired on Nov. 11, the weekend before the attack.
But there’s no way Colbert could have seen the movie on Nov. 11, 2001.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" didn’t premiere until Nov. 14. That fact was never brought up in court. Instead court transcripts show attorneys engaging in a confusing back-and-forth cross-examination. Alicia Colbert doubled down and insisted that she went with Sonny to the movies on Nov. 11.
The mix-up was never resolved. The jury was forced to decide for themselves. There was no physical evidence—no DNA, no fingerprints—connecting Bharadia to the scene. But the jury moved to convict.
The guilty verdict still haunts Bharadia’s alibi witness years after the trial.
“To watch this happen to Sonny, knowing this person was innocent, not because I felt it, not because I could 100% even vouch for his character, but because I could vouch for the timing of that weekend - it was indescribable. I can't even put it into words,” Pitts said.
If Tate does not grant Bharadia a new trial, there are still other legal maneuverings he can try, but those arguments will have to be based on what’s already in the record. This is his last chance to get the DNA and any other new evidence before a jury.
"I want people to see that injustice is done and the fact that it can be corrected. People need to hear the story,” Bharadia said. “I’m just hoping that somebody acts on the evidence. I just want the truth to come out. It’s like I’m not the person.”