NYC judge tosses man's 1991 murder conviction

NEW YORK - A New York City judge has tossed out a 1991 murder conviction against a man who says he was framed by a now-retired detective who has been the focus of several wrongful conviction claims.

Derrick Hamilton had served 21 years in prison before being paroled in 2011. The decision on Friday cleared his conviction.

The 49-year-old Hamilton had always maintained his innocence in the shooting death of Nathaniel Cash. He told reporters after a court hearing in Brooklyn that he felt vindicated.

"It's the world to me, it's what I've been fighting for for 25 years," Hamilton said, according to CBS New York.

The retired detective, Louis Scarcella, who Hamilton blames for his conviction, is at the center of several wrongful conviction claims and has been accused of coaching witnesses, coercing confessions and trading drugs for testimony in multiple cases.

According to CBS New York, Hamilton claims Scarcela kissed him on the cheek after his arrest and whispered in his ear that he was going to prison for a murder he knew he didn't commit.

Hamilton also reportedly says Scarcella coerced Cash's girlfriend into testifying against him. She later recanted her testimony.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson is re-examining dozens of cases from the 1980s and 1990s involving Scarcella. Thompson has since cleared several defendants Scarcella helped put away.

Hamilton says he now plans to help others, like him, who have been wrongly convicted.