From: Families of Wrongfully Convicted
Contact: Lonnie Soury, (212) 414-5857, (917) 519-4521, Lonnie@Soury.com
WAITING DECADES FOR JUSTICE VICTIMS OF DISGRACED DETECTIVE LOUIS SCARCELLA ANGRY OVER PACE OF INVESTIGATION BY BROOKLYN DA
CALL FOR INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO REVIEW CONVICTIONS
Seek Changes In NYPD Procedures To Prevent False Confessions and Witness Misidentification
Victims of infamous Brooklyn detective Louis Scarcella, including some men who have been recently released after decades in prison, join families of the wrongfully convicted at a news conference on the steps of New York City Hall on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at 1 pm. They are angry and frustrated at the pace of the Brooklyn DA Thompson’s review of the Scarcella related cases and other questionable convictions in the Brooklyn DA’s office over the past 25 years.
Anthony Yarborough (21 years), Sundhee Moses (18 years), Derrick Hamilton (21 years), and Kevin Smith (28 years) will join families of Scarcella vicims still imprisoned for decades including Shabbaka Shakur, Hector Lopez, James Earl Jenkins and Malik Thomas. Families and supporter of other wrongfully convicted including Danny Rincon, Jon Adrian Velazquez and Johnnie Hincapie will be attending. Jesse Freidman, (Capturing the Friedmans), whose innocence case was rejected after three year “conviction review” by Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice, will discuss the inherent bias of these reviews.
Families of the wrongfully convicted are also asking for the establishment of an independent conviction review process as they have no faith that any of New York City’s district attorneys can effectively review their own cases, especially by sitting prosecutors.
They are also asking Mayor Bill Deblasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to institute universally recognized methods of preventing wrongful convictions by recording all custodial interrogations of suspects and witnesses to prevent false confessions and false testimony, as well as conducting “double blind” procedures in police lineups and photo arrays, to prevent witness misidentification, both the leading causes of wrongful convictions
WHO: Victims of Det. Louis Scarcella and Families of Wrongfully Convicted
WHAT: Call on Brooklyn DA Thompson to Establish Procedures to Review Cases
WHERE: Steps of New York’s City Hall
WHEN: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at 1 PM
Derrick Hamilton said, “It was almost 25 years ago that Detective Louis Scarcella came to my business in New Haven, and kissed me on the cheek like they do in the mafia movies and said been here for 20 years although I am innocent. There is indisputable evidence that I did not commit the crime for which I am serving a life sentence. I have been here with far too many men who are innocent like me. It is time to change the way innocent men and women are treated by our system”
According to victims, their families and attorneys there has been little if any communication with Brooklyn DA Thompson’s office and almost no cooperation. Many of the same senior prosecutors who were involved with these cases over the years, aggressively defending the convictions, are still in place, holdovers from former Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes.
A Feb 11, letter from close to 20 attorneys with either Scarcealla cases of or other wrongful convictions in the Brooklyn DA’s office has not been responded to by Thompson.
“The new District Attorney continues to rely on the same old bad practices in reviewing convictions, refusing to share information, articulate a standard of review, or work collaboratively with defense counsel. Apparently reform and transparency are much easier to demand in an election battle than they are to provide once you win.”
Families of the wrongfully convicted including victims of notorious Brooklyn detective Louis Scarcella and the former Brooklyn DA hold news conference on the steps of New York City Hall on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Sundhee Moses and Derrick Hamilton both recently parioled of whom served over 20 years in prison a false evidence obtained by Detective Scarcella will speak along with families of men currently encacerated were recently released on parole have been asked to assist families of those wrongfully convicted in NYC to
We will have speakers who have been recently released after serving decades in prison as well as mothers, sisters, brothers and children of others currently wrongfully imprisoned.
The effort is to bring light to the plight of these families, as well as ask for an independent Commission be formed to review cases, make recommendations, assist with providing legal counsel to those who have credible cases they were wrongfully convicted. , independent of the district attorneys who we believe cannot effectively review their own cases.
We will call on the NYPD to institute proven methods to reduce wrongful convictions such as video recording of custodial interrogations to prevent false confessions and double blind suspect line ups and other methods to prevent misidentification of defendants, both the leading causes of wrongful convictions. (New York, NY – June 16, 2011) Families and friends of a group of men wrongfully imprisoned for life in New York State prisons held a rally on the steps of City Hall to call attention to their cases. They are asking Governor Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the legislature and Court of Appeals Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman to create an Innocence Commission that would have the power to review not only cases of those exonerated, but those of people who are currently serving life sentences for crimes they did not commit.
Derrick Hamilton said, “I have been here for 20 years although I am innocent. There is indisputable evidence that I did not commit the crime for which I am serving a life sentence. I have been here with far too many men who are innocent like me. It is time to change the way innocent men and women are treated by our system”
Family and friends of those wrongfully convicted include:
Derrick Hamilton was been imprisoned for 20 years for a January 4, 1991 murder in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, despite convincing evidence from an eyewitness that he was innocent. A highly decorated New Haven, Connecticut police officer and other witnesses have provided evidence Hamilton was in New Haven at the time of the murder. Derrick Hamilton was wrongfully prosecuted based solely on the testimony of Jewel Smith, who was allegedly coerced by police and prosecutors into testifying and has since recanted. www.freederrick.com
Shabaka Shakur has been in prison since 1988 for a double murder. There was no physical evidence to tie Shabaka to this crime. No fingerprints, no DNA, no bloodstains, no gunshot residue. Shabaka advised the police he was in Queens not Brooklyn when the murders were committed. He provided names of people who the police contacted that corroborated his alibi. Yet when he proceeded to trial, the jury never heard from his alibi witnesses. www.freeshabakashakur.com
Danny Rincon was sentenced to 158 and 1/3 years to life and has been in since June 1992. Danny and three other men have served almost 20 years. Credible evidence provided by a government informant advised the prosecutor Rincon was not the driver of the getaway vehicle. The informant has confessed that he himself drove the vehicle and he never saw Rincon that day.
Ricky Caldwell has been in prison since 1983 after being convicted and sentenced to 50 years to life on two counts of attempted murder of police officer. An eyewitness testified at Caldwell’s trial that he was not the person he witnessed commit the crime. Police officers testified they were sure they shot their assailant. Caldwell had no injuries or gunshot wounds when he was arrested.
Richard Rosario has been in prison since 1996 when he was arrested for a murder in the Bronx and sentenced to 25 years to life. On the day of the murder, Richard was in Daytona, Florida. He returned to New York and immediately went to the precinct to speak with police as they surely were looking for the wrong man. Although Rosario supplied them with the names of 13 alibi eyewitnesses to his whereabouts on the day of the murder, he was arrested, tried and convicted based upon two witnesses who picked his photo out of a book. There was no other evidence linking him to the crime. He did not know the victim, and he did not know the witnesses.
Aaron Waymon was convicted in 1998 and is serving a 25 to life sentence for a murder that another party has confessed to committing. Demaris Tolbert was convicted of the same murder, but Waymon is still imprisoned. A police officer at the scene of the crime gave a description of the perpetrator that fits Tolbert and not Waymon.
Sherman Adams was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Adams was tried three times for allegedly killing two men during a shooting outside a crowded nightclub early on the morning of September 13, 1999. The first two trials resulted in hung juries. At his third trial, the eyewitness described the two shooters in a way that excluded Adams: one wore a multi-colored Coogi sweater and the other a white t-shirt. Adams wore dark clothes on the evening of the shooting.
Lonnie Soury, founder of Falseconfessions.org, an advocacy website for wrongfully convicted, said, “Louis Scarcella is a symptom of a broken system that continues today. There is no Scarcella without a Brooklyn District Attorney who was complicit and encouraged his actions, and a judiciary that allowed tainted evidence go before jury after jury after jury. And this happens not only in Brooklyn but in every borough in this city.It has to stop, and it will only stop when those resposnsible are held responsible.
There are changes that can be made today that can help prevent wrongful convicitons. If custodial interrogations were recorded it is likely that Anthony Yarborough’s false confession would not have happened or There are thousands of men and women in New York State prisons who are innocent. The families here today are fighting to free their loved ones and right a terrible wrong, a life sentence and a wrongful conviction. We must have a mechanism to bring justice to these men, their families and the victims. Our judiciary and our legislators should follow other states like North Carolina which has established a commission to review these cases.”
James Rivers, Director of Communications for Redemption Point, said, “We are dedicated to saving lives and giving individuals who emerge from prison the resources to succeed . As a result, we are committed to the cause of justice and believe that far too many of the incarcerated have been wrongfully convicted. We call upon the Governor, Attorney General and Chief Justice to provide solutions to this tragedy.”
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