The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday asked a judge to throw out a whopping 378 convictions – including 47 felonies – that relied on testimony from dirty cops.
DA Eric Gonzalez said he “lost confidence” in the convictions where 13 former NYPD officers served as key witnesses before they were themselves found guilty of crimes including murder, planting drugs, taking bribes and lying under oath.
His office’s own Conviction Review Unit, however, didn’t uncover any misconduct in the cases.
Most of the convictions were on misdemeanor drug possession charges or traffic law violations, from arrests that took place between 1999 and 2017. No one is behind bars due to any of the convictions, the DA’s Office said.
“These former police officers were found to have committed serious misconduct that directly relates to their official job duties, calling into question the integrity of every arrest they have made,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
“Credibility and honesty are at the heart of the justice system, and we cannot improve community trust without adhering to the highest ethical standards,” he added.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office led by Eric Gonzalez, above, asked a judge to throw out 378 convictions, including 47 felonies, that relied on testimony from dirty cops. Gregory P. MangoProsecutors, during a hearing Wednesday afternoon, asked Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic to begin vacating the felony convictions.
The mass dismissal would be the sixth-largest in US history, Gonzalez said in a statement, citing data from the National Registry of Exonerations. It follows the DA moving to toss 90 convictions tied to ex-Detective Joseph Franco, who was indicted for perjury in Manhattan in 2019.
The latest round of dismissals includes 191 convictions involving four cops in a Brooklyn South Narcotics corruption scandal, the DA said. Some 134 convictions involved disgraced ex-cop Jerry Bowens — who admitted to murdering his girlfriend in 2009 and shooting a friend in the head, prosecutors said.
At least 43 of the convictions involved ex-cop Oscar Sandino, who pleaded guilty in 2010 over claims he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him, the DA’s Office said. Another 60 included Eddie Martins, who admitted to taking bribes and letting an 18-year-old woman walk on a drug charge in exchange for sexual favors in 2017.
Other cops on the list of the 13 included Michael Foder, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to falsifying evidence and lying under oath.
