Louis Scarcella’s First Officially Exonerated Victims

But almost certainly not the last:

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office will ask a judge to vacate the murder convictions of three half-brothers whose trials relied on questionable evidence produced by a now discredited homicide detective, several lawyers close to the cases said.

The defendants, Alvena Jennette, Robert Hill and Darryl Austin, will become the first people connected with the detective, Louis Scarcella, to be exonerated since the district attorney’s office last year began reviewing 57 trial convictions obtained through the work of Mr. Scarcella.

Mr. Scarcella, whose investigative work was blamed last year for a wrongful conviction that kept a man in prison for 23 years, was accused of fabricating confessions, coercing witnesses and failing to turn in exculpatory evidence. The most damning pattern in the detective’s cases — uncovered last year by The New York Times — was the use of Teresa Gomez, a crack addict who was a witness in six separate murder cases.

Ms. Gomez, who is deceased, often got crucial details wrong and contradicted other witnesses. One case she testified in was dismissed because she failed to show up for her cross-examination. Another man accepted a guilty plea, and then wrote despondent letters to the judge saying that Ms. Gomez, whom he described as a person who would sell a close relative for crack, had railroaded him.

Ms. Gomez had testified against Mr. Jennette, Mr. Hill and Mr. Austin.

Much more background here and here. I would hope that severe legal sanctions against Scarcella will be coming sooner rather than later.