“This case stinks from top to bottom,” a Brooklyn defense lawyer summed up in calling disgraced ex-NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella a “rogue cop” who tainted the investigation of a man who served 16 years behind bars before being paroled for a murder he didn’t commit.
John Bunn was 14 when he was picked out of a lineup set up by Scarcella in the August 1991 shooting of off-duty correction officer Rolando Neischer in Crown Heights during a carjacking.
During closing remarks in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday, Bunn’s lawyer, Glenn Garber, asked the judge to throw out the conviction.
“This is a compelling case of wrongful conviction and of actual innocence,” he said.
“If you look at things cumulatively, there is no doubt this case stinks from top to bottom. You have this rogue cop that is now proving to be front and center in the investigation, placed at the lineup.”
John Bunn with his attorneys Rebecca Freedman and Glen Garber on June 22.Stefan Jeremiah Prosecutor Bernarda Villalona countered that Scarcella didn’t have direct ties to the investigation. “How did we get here? One word — Scarcella. Say Scarcella and bells ring. That is your ticket out. Find out if that man even breathed around your case.”
Bunn is due back in court in October to hear the judge’s decision.
“It’s my life on the line,” he said after court today.
Last year, Bunn’s co-defendant, Rosean Hargrave, was freed after 23 years in prison for the murder. Six convictions tied to Scarcella’s work have been overturned out of 35 reviewed so far by the Brooklyn DA’s Office. Hargrave’s was the first dismissed by a judge; the other five were tossed after review by the Brooklyn DA’s office
