The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has reviewed most of the cases of NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella and has thus far come to the conclusion that he did not engage in any alleged misconduct. In response to the Brooklyn DA’s admission thus far, Detectives’ Endowment Association, Inc. President Michael J. Palladino released the following statement:
“The Brooklyn District Attorney’s brief finally articulates what we suspected all along. Drowning in controversy, former District Attorney Charles Hynes tried to use Detective Scarcella as his life preserver by tarnishing long-retired Det. Scarcella’s reputation and the reputation of the entire NYPD by wrongfully accusing him of misconduct on his many cases. This has caused Det. Scarcella and his family much pain and distress over the past five years. Now, Scarcella’s reputation must be restored.”
Paragraph 49, found on pages 28-29 from the 63-page “Affirmation in Opposition to Motion to Vacate Judgment” in the case The People of The State of New York vs. Shawn Williams, Defendant, states: “The Conviction Review Unit of the King’s County District Attorney’s Office (“C.R.U.”) has completed review of the forty-one other cases in which Detective Scarcella was involved in the police investigation. In thirty-four of those forty-one cases, the District Attorney’s Office has concluded that it will defend the conviction. In the other seven of those forty-one cases the District Attorney’s Office has consented to vacatur of the judgment of conviction. In each of those forty-one cases, the decision of the District Attorney’s Office regarding whether to defend the conviction or consent to vacatur was based on consideration of all of the facts and circumstances of the case. In each of the seven cases in which Detective Scarcella was involved in the police investigation and in which the District Attorney’s Office has consented to vacatur of the judgment of conviction – namely, the cases of Robert Hill, Darryl Austin, Alvena Jennette, Roger Logan, Vanessa Gathers, Carlos Davis, and Derrick Hamilton – the decision to consent to vacatur was for reasons not related to any alleged misconduct by Detective Scarcella. In addition, in another case in which Detective Scarcella was involved in the police investigation – the case of David Ranta – the District Attorney’s Office, before the creation of the C.R.U. in its current form, also consented to vacatur the judgment of conviction; but in that case, too, the decision to consent to vacatur was for reasons not related toany alleged misconduct by Detective Sacarcella.” [Vacatur is Latin for “vacated.”]
Louis Scarcella joined the New York Police Department in 1973. He was promoted to Detective in December of 1981, earned second grade in March of 1988, and was promoted to first grade Detective in December of 1993. He retired from the Brooklyn North Homicide Squad in March of 1999. Scarcella’s brother was also a Police Officer, as was their father Dominick. Dominick Scarcella joined the force in 1955 and retired as a Detective in 1982. He passed away in 2003.
Scarcella has been forced to bear five years of public humiliation after the former Brooklyn DA propagated unfounded charges about his integrity, resulting in a review of his cases, which included the aforementioned convictions. Cases are still being reviewed, but it is suspected the investigation will conclude shortly.
