Woman released from prison after new evidence disproves reports of a 1999 murder in the Bronx

A woman who has been in prison for more than a decade was released Tuesday after new evidence contradicted reports that she helped a hitman kill an innocent victim in the Bronx 25 years ago.

Kimberly Hanzlik, 59, was convicted in 2011 along with shooter Joseph Meldish for allegedly tipping off Meldish that his target, Thomas Brown, was sitting at Frenchy’s Tavern on East Tremont Avenue on March 21, 1999.

A judge sentenced Hanzlik to 20 years to life in state prison, and there she languished – until new evidence unearthed by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office cast doubt on whether she was ever at the Bronx bar in the first place when the murder happened.

The story goes that Meldish – suspected of being involved in 40 gangland murders – was angry that Brown, a former drug dealer, had refused to lend him cash for a deal and then reported him to the police, when Meldish broke into his house in retaliation.

Hanzlik – then a crack-addicted prostitute – allegedly went with Meldish and another man to the Throggs Neck bar where Brown was hanging out, jumped in, saw him sitting with his wife and told Meldish he was there.

Meldish rushed in and shot the man eight times, killing him.

But it turned out that Meldish had actually shot Brown’s doppelganger brother, Joey.

And unfortunately for Hanzlik, Meldish’s getaway driver testified that she helped the criminals carry out their dastardly mission – leading to her conviction.

In 2021, Hanzlik’s lawyers asked the prosecutor’s office’s Conviction Integrity Bureau to reinvestigate the case — and in doing so, they found old police documents that quoted the getaway driver as saying Hanzlik was not present at the shooting.

Investigators also found that Brown’s wife – who claimed to have seen Hanzlik at the bar before the shooting – did not mention her until 2006, seven years after the murder.

And the now-deceased NYPD detective who obtained the ID forced a false ID in a separate, unrelated case, Clark said.

On Tuesday, an administrative law judge at the Bronx Hall of Justice granted Hanzlik’s attorney’s request to vacate the conviction, dismiss the charges, seal the case and free her from prison.

“MS. Hanzlik served 13 years in prison based on trial testimony that would not meet today’s credibility thresholds given the discovery of new information, casting doubt on the integrity of her conviction, and we cannot remain faithful to that,” Clark said .

“I understand this is causing pain and distress to the victim’s family, but in the interest of justice, we are dismissing the charges against Ms. Hanzlik.”

Hanzlik’s lawyer, Irving Cohen, said afterwards that it was an “amazing day.”

“We knew immediately that she was innocent,” the lawyer said, adding that his client was “very emotional” about her release.

“I mean, she’s completely innocent. She wasn’t there when this event happened.”

However, not everyone was enthusiastic.

“I’m outraged that this is happening,” Eileen Brown, Joseph’s widow, told The Post. “I don’t understand how they could let her out.”

“Your record will be expunged. It’s like she was never arrested,” she continued. “If she didn’t come into that bar and draw attention to my husband, he would still be with us today. My husband was a good man. He had a good job and was in the Air Force Reserves. We had a little son.

“We were a happy family with a bright future and because of her it all ended that night.”