On Tues. Dec. 13, the day before a Court TV segment in its “Wrong Man” series was set to air focusing on the case of Fernando Bermudez, family members and friends rallied on Centre St. outside the Manhattan district attorney’s office calling for Bermudez’s release. Bermudez has been imprisoned 14 years for a murder committed on W. 13th St. in 1991 that followed a fight at a concert at the Marc Ballroom on Union Square West that Bermudez had not attended. His family, friends and supporters say he is innocent and that the witnesses who testified against him later recanted their stories, yet that police and the judge still pushed for his conviction. They say Bermudez, from the Bronx, wasn’t a hothead and that before his arrest for murder he was mainly into lifting weights and dating girls. Clockwise from upper left: Daniella and Frank Bermudez, parents of Fernando Bermudez; Danny Bermudez, Fernando’s brother, and mother Daniella; Miguel Garcia, Fernando’s best friend, right, and demonstrators hold banners and placards urging D.A. Robert Morgenthau to watch the Court TV show and reconsider the case. Edison Alban, a D.A. spokesperson, said Bermudez’s appeal is currently being reviewed by a federal judge. He declined to say whether Morgenthau feels the conviction should stand. “We’re just awaiting the judge’s decision,” Alban said. “We’ll have to wait for the decision before commenting any further.”
