Detectives investigate “according to the process”, young people in the US still “unmask” unjustly 24 years

This is the largest amount of compensation related to a series of wrongful convictions in the investigation of “famous detective” Louis Scarcella of the Brooklyn investigative agency.

According to the sheet New York Times , Shawn Williams was accused of murdering a man in Brooklyn in 1993, despite the lack of any forensic evidence. From the testimony of a woman who said she saw Williams at the crime scene and had a pistol strapped to her belt. As a result, the 19-year-old boy was sentenced to 25 years in prison and was only acquitted in 2018.

However, years later, this witness changed her testimony, claiming that it was Detective Scarcella and two other former officers who forced her to put all the blame on Shawn Williams’ head.

“No amount of money can give me back the years of regret they took from me behind bars,” the 47-year-old said after a court ruling on May 4 forced the government to TP New York must pay 10.5 million USD – “But I will continue to rebuild my life and towards a brighter future”.

Shawn Williams (white shirt) after being exonerated and compensated 10.5 million USD Photo: NYT

The reputation of “talented detective” Louis Scarcella began to crumble in 2013. At that time, the court overturned the sentence of one of Scarcella’s most famous investigations. The case led to the wrongful conviction of David Ranta, who was accused of killing rabbi Rabbi Chaskel in 1990.

Since then, more than a dozen other convictions that Louis Scarcella previously investigated were overturned, forcing New York City officials to pay wrongful compensation tens of millions of dollars to the victims.

Detective Scarcella, who retired in 1999, has repeatedly asserted that the cases he is in charge of investigating are “in accordance with the correct process”, helping the court to make judgments of “the right person and the right person”.

Regarding the Shawn Williams murder case, court records show: After the shooting happened in July 1993, detective Scarcella and his partner Stephen Chmil went to the house to meet the witness and show Shawn’s photo. Williams. The witness is a woman who lives in a house across the street from the crime scene.

For the first time, the female witness confirmed that she did not know Shawn Williams. But the next time she went home, she told detectives that she had seen suspect Shawn Williams the night of the murder and that he had a gun strapped to his belt.

Detectives told the witness “they may move on to investigating her son as a suspect if she does not confirm Shawn Williams as the murderer,” court records show.

Lawyers also said the witness later left New York for Georgia because “did not want to continue to participate in the wrongful prosecution case”. However, she was later forced to testify in court against Shawn Williams.

Although “suspect” Shawn Williams then testified in court that he was in Southern Pennsylvania at the time of the crime, but he was still sentenced to 25 years in prison – served 24 years before being released and exonerated.

New York authorities have been reviewing more than 70 cases that Detective Scarcella handled.