Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

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Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantial

reasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

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)We understand the need to work ;uickly, but are not willing to sacrifice speed for thoroughness in thepursuit of ustice,* he said in a statement.

4erhaps hundreds of murder convictions may need review because of coerced confessions, intimidatedor untrustworthy witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct or discredited detectives like -ouis epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used in

areas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

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yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

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2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantial

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

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reasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfully

convicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

5/72

4ressure to solve cases during the violent years of the crack epidemic, along with a lack of oversight,bred a )round up the usual suspects, the ends ustify the means* attitude that left a legacy of wrongfulconvictions, !r. Banks said.

-egal Aid represents $7 clients in whose cases !r. Scarcella was involved, #( of whom remain in ail.Believing that other detectives probably used similar tactics, the group has sent !r. Thompson a list ofmore than &77 clients it represented on appeal involving murders in Brooklyn during the years !r.

Scarcella was active. Already, many of the cases defense lawyers are pushing !r. Thompson to revisitwere not !r. Scarcella"s.

>epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

6/72

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify and

what the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how he

had been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%old

girl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the new

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

7/72

Brooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewer

William -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

8/72

Scarcella was active. Already, many of the cases defense lawyers are pushing !r. Thompson to revisitwere not !r. Scarcella"s.

>epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused of

misconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify and

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

9/72

what the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedly

critici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying that

his confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feels

good,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewer

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

10/72

William -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

11/72

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyond

the usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedly

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

12/72

critici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantial

reasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

13/72

said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used in

areas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyond

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

14/72

the usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

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2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to the

Second ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked either

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

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man to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defend

him.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutal

murders they never committed.onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s and

early #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

16/72

discredited.

/ow defense attorneys are eager for the reforms !r. Thompson promised while campaigningto unseat!r. +ynes. Though the lawyers say they understand !r. Thompson has inherited a formidable task andneeds time to establish his office, several privately grumble that members of his staff have not returnedcalls while their clients languish in prison.

)This is what 3en campaigned on. +e said, 92 don"t think +ynes put enough resources into it," so he"sgot to do that,* said Barry . Scheck, one of the founders of the2nnocence 4roect, who has met with!r. Thompson"s transition team about the wrongful convictions. )And 2 e8pect that he will.*

!r. Thompson said he planned to add more prosecutors, paralegals and investigators to the convictionintegrity unit, which had ust a few employees under !r. +ynes. But he has not yet appointed a leaderfor the unit.

=n Wednesday, !r. Thompson said he had begun the process of rebuilding and e8panding the unit,which he called )a top priority.*

)We understand the need to work ;uickly, but are not willing to sacrifice speed for thoroughness in thepursuit of ustice,* he said in a statement.

4erhaps hundreds of murder convictions may need review because of coerced confessions, intimidatedor untrustworthy witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct or discredited detectives like -ouis epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

17/72

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying that

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

18/72

his confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantial

reasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

19/72

calls while their clients languish in prison.

)This is what 3en campaigned on. +e said, 92 don"t think +ynes put enough resources into it," so he"sgot to do that,* said Barry . Scheck, one of the founders of the2nnocence 4roect, who has met with!r. Thompson"s transition team about the wrongful convictions. )And 2 e8pect that he will.*

!r. Thompson said he planned to add more prosecutors, paralegals and investigators to the convictionintegrity unit, which had ust a few employees under !r. +ynes. But he has not yet appointed a leaderfor the unit.

=n Wednesday, !r. Thompson said he had begun the process of rebuilding and e8panding the unit,which he called )a top priority.*

)We understand the need to work ;uickly, but are not willing to sacrifice speed for thoroughness in thepursuit of ustice,* he said in a statement.

4erhaps hundreds of murder convictions may need review because of coerced confessions, intimidatedor untrustworthy witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct or discredited detectives like -ouis epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used in

areas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct or

compels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

20/72

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already received

reviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.

Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in

!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

21/72

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal in

which do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

22/72

=n Wednesday, !r. Thompson said he had begun the process of rebuilding and e8panding the unit,which he called )a top priority.*

)We understand the need to work ;uickly, but are not willing to sacrifice speed for thoroughness in thepursuit of ustice,* he said in a statement.

4erhaps hundreds of murder convictions may need review because of coerced confessions, intimidatedor untrustworthy witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct or discredited detectives like -ouis epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain of

events, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

23/72

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he leftoffice, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying thathis confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutal

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

24/72

murders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found onanother murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.

Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

25/72

4erhaps hundreds of murder convictions may need review because of coerced confessions, intimidatedor untrustworthy witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct or discredited detectives like -ouis epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyondthe usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

Recent Comments

yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain ofevents, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

yipyap

2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since they

changed to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

See All omments

Write a comment

8/21/2019 Marine Biology the Sequel to the sequal

26/72

2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he left

office, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedly

critici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They have said nothing to us, but we completely understand that he has a thousand differentthings he has to do to get up to speed as .A. of a county as large as Brooklyn.*

2n the case of !r. Yarbough and !r. Wilson, !r. +ynes"s office resisted re;uests to reinvestigate formonths, their lawyers said. 2nvestigators eventually confirmed that no physical evidence linked eitherman to the crime scene, and matched the /A found on !r. Yarbough"s mother to that found on the#&&& murder victim.

!edical records showed that the victims probably died when both defendants were known to be still in!anhattan. !r. Wilson recanted his confession and testimony incriminating !r. Yarbough, saying that

his confession had been coerced and that he had been offered a lighter sentence to testify against !r.Yarbough. And in an affidavit, !r. Yarbough"s original lawyer said she had been unprepared to defendhim.

Sitting with his mother and sisters on Thursday, !r. Wilson"s voice grew soft as he described how hehad been railroaded into confessing as a #(%year%old.

)2 was young, afraid, not used to being in the precinct and the ustice system,* he said. )2 didn"t knowmuch then. 2t was pretty easy for them to coerce me into giving false statements.*

By the early $777s, he said, he was determined to get legal help and get out. /ot until Thursday was hefree

Their wrists uncuffed, their ankles unchained, Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson walked out of aBrooklyn courtroom Thursday afternoon, free after more than two decades in prison for three brutalmurders they never committed.

onvicted of stabbing and garroting !r. Yarbough"s mother, #$%year%old sister and another #$%year%oldgirl to death in #&&$, when !r. Yarbough was #' and !r. Wilson was #(, both men had theirconvictions vacated on Thursday after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence created )substantialreasonable doubt of the defendants" guilt,* as assistant district attorney !ark +ale told the udge.

-ast year, testing revealed that /A under !r. Yarbough"s mother"s fingernails matched that found on

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another murder victim in #&&& 0 when the men had already been in prison for years.

1ree of the courtroom, !r. Yarbough knelt to pray, his hands clasped over a black office chair. )2t feelsgood,* he said, )to be vindicated.*

They were ust two prisoners of many who had pinned their hopes on 3enneth 4. Thompson, the newBrooklyn district attorney. !r. Thompson inherited a metastasi5ing wrongful conviction scandal inwhich do5ens of imprisoned men have asked for freedom, their convictions linked to mistakes andmisconduct by police and prosecutors.

-aunch media viewerWilliam -ope5 was freed from prison last year after $6 years. !ichael 3irby Smith for The /ew YorkTimes

-ittle more than a month after taking office amid promises to restore ustice to those wrongfullyconvicted, !r. Thompson is confronting the possibility that the violence of the drug%plagued #&'7s andearly #&&7s bred a wave of wrongful convictions that could dwarf other e8oneration scandals.

)The term 9tip of the iceberg" is clich:d, but if ever it was applicable, it"s applicable to this situation,*said Steven Banks, the chief lawyer for the -egal Aid Society. )There"s no ;uestion that this is going tobe painstaking work to undo a problem that was years in the making.*

aunting in their own right, the potential wrongful convictions also present a political ;uagmire for !r.Thompson. +is predecessor, harles

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convictions, !r. Banks said.

-egal Aid represents $7 clients in whose cases !r. Scarcella was involved, #( of whom remain in ail.Believing that other detectives probably used similar tactics, the group has sent !r. Thompson a list ofmore than &77 clients it represented on appeal involving murders in Brooklyn during the years !r.Scarcella was active. Already, many of the cases defense lawyers are pushing !r. Thompson to revisitwere not !r. Scarcella"s.

>epresentatives of -egal Aid, the 2nnocence 4roect and other legal advocacy groups, along with a fewdefense lawyers, are asking to meet with !r. Thompson to help devise a protocol similar to that used inareas where clusters of e8onerations have been warranted. =ne model is allas ounty, Te8., where $?men have been e8onerated using /A evidence since $77#.

Yet the allas effort pales ne8t to Brooklyn"s in comple8ity as well as si5e. /A evidence can makeguilt or innocence relatively straightforward. But in many of the Brooklyn cases, potential police orprosecutorial misconduct that may have violated defendants" due process rights, not physical evidence,is casting doubt on convictions.

hief among !r. Scheck"s recommendations, he said, is instituting an information%sharing agreementbetween defense lawyers and conviction integrity unit investigators that calls for cooperation beyond

the usual obligation to disclose evidence.

The two sides may disagree about whether evidence points to innocence, e8poses misconduct orcompels a new trial, he said, but both would have the tools to argue constructively before a udge.

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yipyap

Watch the documentary @entral 4ark (@. When you watch this and can look back on this chain of

events, it@s crystal clear what an inustice...

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2 wish /YT.com would fi8 the omments function, which ust doesn@t work as well ever since theychanged to a new online format.Anyway...2...

michjas

4rosecutors are in the best position to determine when to charge a defendant. efense attorneys, e8ceptin e8ceptional cases, are in the...

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2n another complication, prosecutors who still work in the district attorney"s office could be accused ofmisconduct as more cases are reviewed, raising the possibility that !r. Thompson will need to refercases to an independent reviewer, an idea he hasendorsed. !r. +ynes commissioned an independentpanel to review the Scarcella cases, but drew criticism for stacking it with friends and donors.

!any of the cases will be new to the office, but a few, including !r. 1leming"s, had already receivedreviews under !r. +ynes. +is investigators had been e8pected to resolve several cases before he left

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office, but did not.

Some defendants have been released in the last several years, including William -ope5, who wasconvicted of shooting a drug dealer in Brighton Beach in #&'&. +is conviction was overturned last yearbecause of weak evidence, a witness who said she had cut a secret deal with prosecutors to testify andwhat the udge called bewildering or simply bad behavior by every stakeholder in the trial, from udgeto ury.

But his case remains urgent because !r. +ynes appealed the overturning of his conviction to theSecond ircuit ourt of Appeals, which some lawyers believe is more likely to side with prosecutors,and which will schedule oral arguments soon. !r. -ope5"s lawyer, >ichard -evitt, hopes !r.Thompson will drop the appeal before then. +e has reason to feel confidentC !r. Thompson repeatedlycritici5ed !r. +ynes over !r. -ope5"s case while campaigning.

)2t"s important that !r. -ope5 have some closure here, and the sooner he has it, the better,* !r. -evittsaid. )They