This is hitting me right in the feels.
John Bunn, 41, was jailed at the age of 14 for a murder he didn’t commit. The decision was all based on evidence produced by ex-Detective Louis Scarcella, who doesn’t exactly have the best track record. Apparently, “more than a dozen of Scarcella’s cases have already been overturned.”
Bunn, and another teen named Rosean Hargrave, were accused of forcing Rolando Neischer and his partner Robert Crosson out of their car, shooting them and then stealing the vehicle. Neischer died, while Crosson survived the shooting and became the sole witness.
Bunn’s murder conviction was tossed out in 2016 after it was revealed that the lead detective on the case, Louis Scarcella, used ‘false and misleading practices’ while he was with the NYPD.
Apparently, Scarcella is a total skeeze.
Bunn and Hargrave were convicted based on tainted evidence produced by the disgraced NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella. According to the New York Post, the now-retired detective placed the teens’ pictures in a photo array for Crosson.
Bunn’s legal team said there were issues with the case from the very beginning. Fingerprints found at the scene did not belong to either teen, and at one point Crosson had described the suspects as light-skinned men in their 20s.
Bunn and Hargrave were dark-skinned teenagers. Defense lawyers said the teens were framed.
‘There were problems with this case that were very obvious,’ defense lawyer Glenn Garber said. ‘There was no probable cause to make an arrest.’
Anyway, he’s been cleared, and it’s been understandably emotional for him.
“I want to say thank you your honor because it’s been 27 years I’ve been fighting for my life,” Bunn said.
Can you imagine that for a minute? Being treated like a murderer for 27 years, even though you were innocent the entire time? They literally stole his life.
Bunn also had a word for the prosecutors.
“I want y’all to know that y’all convicted and had the wrong man in prison,” he said.
WATCH: John Bunn, wrongfully jailed at 14 in the 1991 murder of a correction officer, cries as he is exonerated. pic.twitter.com/EU9KmlPOCL
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 16, 2018
After the judge announced that Bunn had been exonerated, he approached the bench and clutched her hands. As the courtroom erupted in applause, Bunn bowed his head and wept.
‘I am more than emotional about this day,’ Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice ShawnDya Simpson said, according to the Daily News. ‘You were 14 at the time. This shouldn’t have ever happened.’
Outside the courtroom, Bunn told reporters that he felt ‘blessed’ and was ‘just thanking God I reached this point’.
Look at these pictures. It’s almost too much.
An amazing photo.
John Bunn, wrongfully jailed at 14 years old for a1991 murder in Brooklyn, cries and grabs the hands Supreme Court Justice Shawn'Dya Simpson this week after being fully exonerated. https://t.co/tTF87KxQ0b pic.twitter.com/4Mhzr9YaRL
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) May 16, 2018
John Bunn, wrongfully jailed at 14 in the 1991 murder of a correction officer, weeps as he’s exonerated https://t.co/iTtCYpODWk pic.twitter.com/ZczzhfHrqM
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 15, 2018
John Bunn was wrongfully convicted of murdering an officer when he was 14 due to botched up investigation by an ex-Detective.
He's been exonerated from all the charges and Judge Shawn'Dya Simpson offered her hands to console Bunn. ❤️Link – https://t.co/zDbCU6pNqi pic.twitter.com/BOfuRbL3ZQ
— Nived Nambiar (@nived_alchemist) May 16, 2018
John Bunn gets a personal thank you from Justice Shawn'Dya Simpson. pic.twitter.com/ejVMB3hA1L
— Christina Carrega (@ChrisCarrega) May 15, 2018
Isn't that the truth! God bless John Bunn. He made the best of a horrible situation and miscarriage of justice and came out a man full of character, grace, forgiveness not because those who wronged him deserved it but because that integrity of spirit saved him, got him through it
— Lorna Frojd (@lornafrojd) May 17, 2018
God bless him and his life of newfound freedom.
h/t Daily Mail