Ken Thompson's Review of Scarcella Cases Produces Its First Three Exonerations
Albert Samaha
Last year, then-Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced that his office would review around 50 cases involving former-detective Louis Scarcella. Scarcella's alleged dirty tricks included coercing confessions, coaching witnesses to lie, and hiding evidence favorable to a suspect.
Hynes, a 24-year incumbent, lost re-election in the fall largely because of his role in overseeing those and other cases involving possible prosecutorial misconduct. The man who replaced him, Ken Thompson, campaigned on cleaning up Hynes's mess. Within his first five months on the job, he exonerated three inmates wrongfully convicted during the '80s and '90s. Those cases, however, were not part of the Scarcella files.
So last month, around 50 protesters took the steps of city hall, calling on Thompson to speed up his review of the Scarcella cases. Perhaps the voices got to him or perhaps the timing was coincidental. But, as the New York Times reported on Monday night, Thompson has announced the first three exonerees from the Scarcella review: Darryl Austin, Alvena Jennette, and Robert Hill.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/05/ken_thompson_exonerates_three_inmates_tied_scarcella.php
