Jon-Adrian Velazquez, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an off-duty police officer in Harlem on January 27, 1998.Velazquez was convicted of the murder based solely on eyewitness misidentifications, the leading cause of wrongful convictions. There was no DNA or physical evidence tying Velazquez to the crime other than the testimony of a number of eyewitnesses, who have either recanted or raise serious questions about police procedures leading to their misidentification. Jon Adrian Velazquez was home with his wife and children at the time of the murder. He was on the phone with his mother for over an hour according to telephone records, discussing plans to visit the grave of his deceased father the next day – his father’s birthday.

Eyewitnesses’ recantations and confession by real Killer of the retired police officer provide convincing and overwhelming evidence that Velazquez is innocent. Attorneys Robert C. Gottlieb and Celia Gordon, representing Jon-Adrian, had presented new evidence to the Manhattan DA’s office 18 months ago, soon after the Conviction Integrity unit was established. They were assured the case would receive a transparent and comprehensive reinvestigation, but that proved to be nothing but an empty promise.

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.

Aaron Waymon was convicted in 1998 and is serving a 25 -year 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. He exonerated Waymon of the crime, and provided a sworn statement that Waymon was not involved. A police officer at the scene of the crime gave a description of the perpetrator that fits Tolbert and not Waymon. A NYPD detective Dale Levine testified that Waymon was not at the scene of the murder. Aaron Waymon is currently serving his sentence in Auburn Correctional Facility.

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.

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.

 Danny was sentenced to 158 and 1/3 years to life and has been in prison since June, 1992. He and three other men have served 22 years. Daniel Rincon was charged as a member of the notorious and violent “Wild Cowboy” or “Red Top” drug gang, which was led by brothers Nelson and Lenin Sepulveda and which imposed a reign of terror on the South Bronx during the 1980s and early 90s.  Far from being a member of the Red Top organization, he was in fact hunted by Red Top as a member of a rival “Orange Top” group. Sepulveda, who cooperated with the prosecution. Mr. Rincon was convicted of the Quad Murders. Proof of innocence now includes a full confessions, under oath, from two of the actual shooters, each of whom swears that Mr. Rincon was not involved.  Moreover, defendant also has obtained an affidavit of David Touger, former attorney for shooter Rafael “Tezo” Perez.  Mr. Touger, now released from the attorney-client privilege, affirms that Perez has continually admitted to his role in the shooting and exonerated Mr. Rincon, and that his account of the shooting is not a recent fabrication.

No fewer than six witnesses have come forward to state under oath that Mr. Rincon was elsewhere at the time the fatal shots rang out: namely, in his friend Nilda Meralda Haywood’s apartment at 370 Cypress Avenue, Apartment 1G, in the Bronx.  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.

Hector Lopez is serving a 25 to life sentence for an arson in 1994 that killed two people. Mr. Lopez falsely confessed to the murder after 12 hours of interrogation.

According to the New York Times, “After about 12 hours in custody, Mr. Scarcella said that Mr. Lopez began to weep and said: ‘You guys got it right.’ In an appeal of the case, his attorney William Loeb, wrote that discrepancies between the confession and evidence suggested “the disturbing likelihood” that Mr. Scarcella had made up the confession.”

Mr. Shakur was convicted on February 15, 1989 of murdering two drug dealers in Brooklyn. There was no physical evidence connecting Mr. Shakur to the murders. The prosecution’s case was based on the testimony of one eyewitness, Harley Young. The only other corroborating evidence was a statement attributed to Mr. Shakur, which was fabricated by the disgraced former detective, Louis Scarcella.

In recent years, two individuals who were present at the time of the murders have come forward to exonerate Mr. Shakur. One witness has stated that she was with Mr. Young at the time of the shooting and knows that he could not have seen it. Another witness has stated that he witnessed the murder of one of the victims and knows that the shooter was not Mr. Shakur. An additional witness has come forward to say that he heard about the murders at the time they occurred, and was informed that a violent Jamaican posse known as “the Renkers” was actually responsible for this crime. On June 19, 2013, the Hon. Desmond Green granted an actual innocence hearing in this case. Judge Green also so-ordered a subpoena duces tecum ordering the prosecution to turn over certain files undergoing review by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office that may support Mr. Shakur’s claims related to the misconduct of former detective Louis Scarcella. The hearing will take place once this review is complete.

Derrick Hamilton spent nearly 21 years in prison for a 1991 murder, before being paroled in 2011. Mr. Hamilton has affidavits from four witnesses, including a former police officer, who place him in New Haven, Conn., when the murder occurred. The only eyewitness who testified recanted and provided an affidavit that also was sent to the appeals courts, DA, AG and governor that stated that Mr. Scarcella coerced her into implicating Derrick Hamilton.

When Mr. Scarcella came to arrest him at a beauty parlor, Mr. Hamilton said, the detective gave him a smart-alecky kiss, and then at the precinct “looked me straight in the eye and said he knew for a fact I didn’t do it, but said I didn’t do enough time on a prior case.”

“It was almost 25 years ago that Detective Louis Scarcella came to my business in New Haven, kissed me on the cheek like they do in the mafia movies and said ‘he was sending me to prison for murder even though he knew I was innocent because he felt I did not do enough time for an unrelated arrest.’ Detective Louis Scarcella was true to his word, he coerced false testimony from a young woman who subsequently recanted, but it was too late. I went to prison for 21 years.

Mr. Jenkins was convicted of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of attempted assault, and two counts of weapon possession on April 9, 1988, in relation to a shooting that took place in Brooklyn in 1986.  No physical evidence connected Mr. Jenkins to the crime. Former detective Louis Scarcella was the lead detective on the case. Scarcella’s misconduct is all over this case: he showed witnesses a photo of only Mr. Jenkins instead of conducting a photo array, he conducted a show-up when he could have conducted a lineup, and he took very few notes about his interactions with the witnesses. The trial judge ultimately precluded everything Scarcella did. However, several witnesses were still permitted to testify because they claimed they had previously known Mr. Jenkins and therefore, could properly identify him. The main witness against Mr. Jenkins, Nathan Torres, has testified in at least two other cases where Scarcella was the detective. Mr. Jenkins has continuously claimed he is innocent of these crimes, and he is working with his attorneys to obtain new evidence establishing his innocence.

According to the NY Times, “In the 1987 murder trial of James Jenkins, who was convicted, Judge Francis X. Egitto said that the witness identification procedures used by Mr. Scarcella were ‘a classic illustration of what not to do.’ Witnesses were shown one photo rather than a gallery, the court records show. They were allowed to mingle together while making an identification of Mr. Jenkins, and Mr. Scarcella told them, ‘We have the guy who committed the murder.’”