In 2014, Brooklyn prosecutors took the extreme step of asking a judge to release Mr. Ranta after spending 20 years behind bars. He had no business being in prison, and the city paid Ranta $6.4 million. He didn’t even have time to take out his pen to sue the city. He suffered from a heart attack the day after his release. Although Ranta is white, Scarcella’s victims typically were of color and poor. Last year, the Kings County District Attorney’s office announced they would investigate fifty-seven cases in which an arrest by Detective Scarcella led to a conviction. Just this week, it was announced that the City of New York will pay $17 million to three half-brothers — Alvena Jennette, Robert Hill and the estate of Darryl Austin. The men spent a combined 60 years behind bars for murders in the 1980s they did not commit, thanks to Scarcella’s handiwork. Jennette was paroled in 2007 after serving nearly two decades in prison, while Hill was released last year when charges against him were dismissed after spending 27 years in prison. Meanwhile, Austin had died in prison in 2000 after serving 13 years. Of the $17 million, $7.15 million was awarded to Hill, $6 million to Jennette and $3.85 million to Austin’s estate. So far, Scarcella has cost the city of New York $24 million in settlements. ...Scarcella, 62, was on the force for nearly three decades, stationed in Brooklyn. And he had an impressive record of nabbing killers, doing whatever it took to get suspects to talk...the heavily decorated Scarcella received Chief of Detectives’ Award for Outstanding Police Investigation for the cases he purportedly solved. Well-respected and even legendary, this hotshot detective was believable. Scarcella had investigated 241 murders thegrio/2015/01/14/louis-scarcella-nypd-wrongful-convictions/
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 05:58:26 +0000
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