Man convicted in 1991 murder investigated by former NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella gets new trial as judge tosses verdict

A Brooklyn judge tore into the tactics of a tainted NYPD detective when throwing out a conviction for a 1991 murder Tuesday — releasing a man who’s been in prison for over 23 years.

“The finding of this is court is that retired Detective Louis Scarcella was, at the time of the investigation, engaged in false and misleading practices,” said Supreme Court Justice ShawnDya Simpson, as she ordered a new trial for Rosean Hargrave.

When the judge finished reading from her written decision, relatives and friends jumped up and burst into tearful applause.

Simpson listed six former inmates whose murder convictions that were secured by the once-legendary investigator have been tossed by prosecutors in the past two years as part of an extensive review of his work.

“The pattern and practices of Detective Scarcella, which manifested disregard to the rules, law and the truth, undermine our judicial system,” she concluded.

It was the first time since the wrongful convictions scandal broke that a judge overturned a Scarcella conviction.

“This was the strongest condemnation from the court” of Scarcella and his partner Stephen Chmil, said Hargrave’s lawyer, Pierre Sussman.

The case was also the first time the ex-cop testified at a hearing since he retired. He claimed last fall to have little memory of the probe.

But documents — and an old Daily News photo showing him walking Hargrave and a second defendant, John Bunn, from the precinct stationhouse — demonstrated he was directly involved.

Scarcella arranged a suspect photo array and lineup, leading to the only evidence at trial — the eyewitness testimony from the partner of correction officer Rolando Neischer, who was slain in a botched robbery.

Simpson noted there was no ballistic or blood evidence and all fingerprints at the scene didn’t match the two suspects.

She also pointed that the two-jury trial lasted a mere two days.

“It appears to be a summarily tried case with missing evidence and a rush of process,” she said.

While a prosecutor asked for bail before a potential new trial, Simpson ordered Hargrave, 41, released.

“We never had a day like this,” said sister Monique Hargrave.

Bunn, who was released from prison in 2009 after doing 17 years for the same homicide, was overcome with emotion.

“I can’t explain how I feel. It’s beyond words,” he said. “It’s a big step in the right direction for us to get justice.”
His lawyers promptly filed a motion asking to set aside Bunn’s conviction as well.
Sussman, who represented the first man whose case was thrown out due to Scarcella’s misdeeds, said the eight witnesses who testified in Hargrave’s post-conviction hearing helped uncover the truth.
“The abuse of process that took place in 1991 has now been somewhat rectified by the due process he’s been afforded by Judge Simpson,” the lawyer said.