Former NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella Testifies In Wrongful Conviction Case
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A former police detective, who has been accused of coercing confessions, testified Friday in a wrongful conviction case.
Former NYPD detective Louis Scarcella came to the witness stand again in a hearing for a man who claims he was wrongfully convicted in the 1995 murder of a 4-year-old Brooklyn girl.
Sundhe Moses served 18 years for the crime and when he was paroled in 2013, he insisted he was innocent claiming that Scarcella beat him to give a false confession.
"He wasn't the one who took the statement from me, but he was the one that sort of did all the physical things so that I would," Moses said
Scarcella has been the center of an investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney's conviction review unit. Their work has led to seven convictions being overturned for defendants including those of Richard Rosario and Derrick Hamilton, who a judge determined were coerced into confession.
But the DA's office is now revealing that of the 41 cases involving Scarcella that they've looked at so far, the DA is standing by 34 of those convictions.
In court, Scarcella denied similar tactics in previous homicide cases.
As for the seven convictions that have been thrown out, they are being tossed because of what prosecutors say are judicial errors and not because of anything Scarcella did.
1010 WINS' Juliet Papa asked Scarcella how he felt about that. Scarcella declined to comment.
"I really can't talk about, thank you. I'm not running from you. I'm just going for the elevator," he said.
The head of detectives union released a statement in regards to the most recent findings, saying detective's reputation has been tarnished because of this and they are hoping it will now be restored.
