A judge has ordered the release of a man who was convicted in 1991 of murdering an off-duty corrections officer in Brooklyn.
The judge has found that Rosean Hargrave got an unfair trial.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice ShawnDya Simpson said Tuesday that the detectives who helped build the case against Hargrave had used "corrupt practices" in other cases.
"The court finds that the newly discovered evidence makes it probable that the results in this case would have been different if a new trial was held," said Simpson, adding that a new trial was being ordered for Hargrave.
It was the news Hargrave and his family waited 23 years to hear.
"Thank you, Your Honor!" they screamed and clapped as the judge announced her decision.
Hargrave sat calmly during the hearing, never expressing any emotion. As he left court with his family, though, he couldn't contain his jubilation.
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"I have to thank my lawyer -- the greatest lawyer ever -- and my family right here for sticking by me," he said, smiling and hugging his family members.
Hargrave's is one of dozens of cases tied to retired NYPD detective Lou Scarcella that have come under review. Scarcella, once lauded for his number of homicide arrests, has been scrutinized in recent years for his investigative tactics that led to some wrongful convictions, according to prosecutors.
Simpson said in court Tuesday, "The scant evidence that convicted the defendant makes the new evidence of Detective Scarcella's wrongdoing significant."
Hargrave is still facing charges in the murder, but the judge said much of the evidence was destroyed or never produced. Simpson said there was no fingerprint match, biological evidence or admission on which to base the conviction.
Last September, at a hearing for Hargrave, NBC 4 New York cameras captured a confrontation between the embattled detective and two other men who were jailed after Scarcella worked on their cases.
"Scarcella, why did you do it, man?" Kevin Smith and Derrick Hamilton shouted after the retired detective. "Why you do it? You framed us! You should go to jail for your actions!"
Smith and Hamilton each served more than 20 years in prison before they were released on parole. The men had been fighting to have their convictions overturned, and Hamilton was exonerated just this past January.
"He put my son in jail for 23 years for something he didn't do," Hargrave's mother cried to Smith and Hamilton the day of the September hearing.
That day, when Hargrave's attorney Pierre Sussman questioned Scarcella on the stand, Scarcella, who had two personal attorneys by his side, said he didn't remember ever arresting Hargrave and denied being the lead investigator in the case.
He was polite, often smiled and frequently said he had no recollection of events.
Asked whether he responded to the crime scene in the case, for example, Scarcella said, "I don't remember. It was 22 years ago."
Since taking office in January 2014, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has intensified the work of the review unit, agreeing to re-examine 90 cases from the 1980s and 1990s to determine if there were wrongful convictions. Most of them stem from concerns about Scarcella's investigative tactics.
Scarcella has been accused of fabricating confessions, manipulating witnesses and intimidating suspects in other cases, charges he denies.
Of 57 Scarcella-related cases, the review board has determined that 11 convictions should stand, prosecutors said last September.
