Abstract
Wrongful conviction is one of the problems facing the United State’s criminal justice system. Many suspects have been wrongfully convicted because of falsified evidence shoddy investigations. Many officers are impatient and therefore, conduct substandard investigations that fail to provide enough evidence. In order to close cases, many police officers falsify evidence and coach witnesses on what to say in court. This has resulted in the wrongful conviction of many suspects. Louis Scarcella and Detective Chmil are examples of police officers who orchestrated wrongful convictions during their tenure in office. Many of their cases are under review by Brooklyn’s district attorney. Exoneration of suspects takes place after additional evidence proving the innocence of suspects is presented in court.
Introduction
A major issue of concern within the U.S. criminal justice system is the wrongful conviction of suspects. In many cases, innocent individuals are wrongfully convicted because of insufficient evidence owing to improper investigations (Neubauer & Fradella, 2013). Many police officers have been accused of falsifying evidence. Some suspects are exonerated after additional evidence is presented in court. Lack of patience and thorough investigations are the main reasons why individuals are wrongfully convicted (Neubauer & Fradella, 2013). Police officers lack the patience to conduct thorough investigations and wait for DNA results from government laboratories. Their main motivation is to close cases as fast as possible. In order to achieve this goal, they force suspects to give false confessions, pressure witnesses to make identifications of suspects and rely on information from the media (Neubauer & Fradella, 2013). One of the police officers accused of orchestrating wrongful convictions is Louis Scarcella.
Louis Scarcella
Louis Scarcella is a retired police officer who orchestrated wrongful convictions in Brooklyn in the 1980s and the 1990s (Weichselbaum, 2013). He served under a homicide unit whose responsibility was to investigate murder cases in the Brooklyn area. At the height of his career, Scarcella and his unit investigated more than 500 cases of murder annually (Robles, 2013). The unit was very controversial because of the high number of wrongfully convicted individuals who were later exonerated. In 2013, Scarcella and his partner were accused of wrongfully arresting suspects without conducting thorough investigations and orchestrating their convictions (Weichselbaum, 2013). The accusation tarnished their reputation significantly. They were accused of lying and cheating in order to convict high-profile criminals. They did that as a way of gaining notoriety and improving their reputation. For instance, in 2013, a man that had been arrested by Scarcella was set free after the judge hearing the case exonerated him. The man had been in jail for 23 years. That case resulted in many more complaints that prompted Brooklyn’s District Attorney (Charles Hynes) to reopen other cases for review. Hynes reopened 56 cases of individuals who had been convicted during the tenure of Scarcella (Weichselbaum, 2013). Scarcella was also accused of gross misconduct. Witness cajoling and falsification of evidence were common in the cases that Scarcella had dealt with.
Detective Chmil
Scarcella’s partner, Detective Chmil was also accused of conducting shoddy investigations that led to the wrongful conviction of innocent individuals. A Manhattan group known as the Exoneration Initiative demonstrated detective Chmil’s shoddiness in the cases he handled. The group pinpointed several inconsistencies in Chmil’s cases that could have resulted in the conviction of innocent individuals. In 2013, the group had more than 300 hundred cases to review (Robles, 2013). According to the group, Detective Chmil’s name was mentioned severally in the cases. His name appeared more times than the name of any other detective. The group’s main aim was to review closed cases in the Brooklyn area for possible inconsistencies. According to witnesses and convicts, Chmil was good at faking evidence and training witnesses on what to say in court (Robles, 2013). He persuaded witnesses to change their stories in order to incriminate certain suspects. On many occasions, Chmil has defended the work they did with Scarcella. However, he has confessed to making several mistakes in the past with regard to arresting innocent criminals (Robles, 2013). On his part, Scarcella has denied any wrongdoing and refuted the claims that many of his cases involved wrongful convictions (Hays, 2013). Scarcella argues that the high rate of murder in Brooklyn could not have been dealt with without making mistakes. According to Chmil, his work was transparent and he never pushed innocent people to jail. Scarcella and Chmil joined the police force in 1986 and they were later deployed to work together under the North Brooklyn homicide squad (Hays, 2013).
In the 12 years they worked together, Chmil and Scarcella closed many cases that have now come under scrutiny. During their tenure, they gained a reputation for their fight against crime in Brooklyn and for their hard work. A report released by the Brooklyn district attorney revealed that the two detectives failed to submit crime reports related to certain high-profile suspects. For instance, in 1992, Scarcella and Chmil were caught on camera releasing an informant from jail so that he could go out to meet friends and do some shopping. Chmil confessed that they were guilty of releasing the informant, which was against the law. David Ranta was the defendant in a murder case involving a rabbi. He was released in 2013 after serving 23 years in jail (Hays, 2013). A thorough review of the case revealed that one of the detectives (Chmil and Scarcella), coached a witness on what to say in court. Ranta’s lawyer accused the two detectives of falsifying evidence and coaching witnesses before they appeared in court.
Four other suspects convicted of murder were also released after a review of their cases, which had been closed (Hays, 2013). Sundhe Moses, who was convicted of murder, argued that Scarcella was a dirty police officer. Moses was convicted for the murder of a 4-year-old girl, Shamone Johnson. Moses’ case came under review in 2013 after claims of wrongful conviction were lodged against Scarcella. Moses claimed that Scarcella coerced him to confess that he had committed the crime through physical abuse. The case was among other cases presented for review in Brooklyn. Moses had unsuccessfully tried to file for appeal by citing flaws in Scarcella’s investigations. Of all the people that gave evidence in court, none of them cited Moses as the killer. However, the court denied an appeal. His case was reopened after he requested the district attorney to review his case citing flaws in Scarcella’s investigations.
Other causes of wrongful convictions
A former Chicago police officer, Commander Jon Burge was convicted of using physical force to obtain confessions from suspects (Conroy, 2011). After accusations of falsifying evidence surfaced, Burge was fired from the police force. He lived as a free citizen until 18 years later when he was arraigned in court for torturing suspects (Conroy, 2011). In the past 10 years, many convicted criminals have been exonerated after additional evidence proved their innocence. For instance, in 2011, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were exonerated. They had been convicted for a 1993 murder case that involved three boys (Conroy, 2011). Judges stated that the case involved police misconduct, fabricated evidence, jury misconduct, and forced confessions. In 2007, DNA evidence revealed that the three were innocent. However, the state declined to release them from prison. In the same year, Michael Morton was released after serving 25 years in jail. He was exonerated after DNA evidence proved that he did not participate in the murder of his wife. This case was highly controversial because the district attorney had declined to release DNA evidence that was the only proof of Morton’s innocence. These cases are evidence that many police officers perform shoddy investigations, falsify evidence, and coerce victims to give false confessions thus orchestrating wrongful convictions.
Conclusion
Wrongful conviction is a common occurrence in the United States’ criminal justice system. Many cases have been reopened in which the police officer assigned to them falsified evidence and physically abused suspects to obtain confessions. In other cases, police officers coach witnesses on what to say in court. Scarcella and Chmil are examples of police officers who orchestrated wrongful convictions. The two were partners and worked under a homicide squad that solved an average of 500 murder cases annually. They had gained a great reputation for their hard work and efforts to reduce homicide in Brooklyn during the 1980s and 1990s. Their reputation was greatly tarnished after the exoneration of a murder suspect who had been jailed for 23 years. This case prompted Brooklyn’s district attorney to open other cases that had been closed. Chmil and Scarcella were caught on camera releasing a suspect from jail so that he could go out with his girlfriend. The two detectives are examples of police officers who falsify evidence and coach victims in preparation for trial cases thus orchestrating wrongful convictions.
References
Conroy, J. (2011). We Must Insist on Accountability for Wrongful Convictions. Web.
Hays, T. (2013). Louis Scarcella, Retired NYPD Detective with Storied Career Defends Record in David Ranta Case. Web.
Neubauer, D., & Fradella, H. (2013). America’s Courts and the Criminal Justice System. New York: Cengage Learning.
Robles, F. (2013). Louis Scarcella’s ex-Partner is coming Under Scrutiny in Brooklyn Cases. Web.
Weichselbaum, S. (2013). Scarcella is a Really Dirty Cop, says Locked-Up murderer in One of Newest Cases being Probed by the Brooklyn DA’s Office. Web.