This is a story that happens way too much in America. A man was wrongfully convicted back in 1991 and was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He never faltered though, and always held true to his innocence and it finally paid off.
The man, 41-year-old John Bunn, from Brooklyn, New York, was minding his own business when he was 14 years old when this all happened. Sadly a corrupt cop Louis Scarcella worked the case of the shooting of an off-duty correction officer, Rolando Neischer, and the attempted murder of his partner, Robert Crosson in Crown Heights in 1991.
Bunn was convicted along with another teenager at the time, Rosean Hargrave. Neischer died after the incident so Crosson was the only witness.
He eventually was able to get parole, but Bunn was on a mission to clear his name because you know…he never did the crime. That’s exactly what he got done this past week and I don’t think anyone in the world felt better than Bunn in this moment.
Louis Scarcella who was the lead detective on the case has since been disgraced as it was proved he was as corrupt as can be. Look at this picture of him, and yeah he looks the part…
According to court documents, the tactics that Scarcella used were found as “false and misleading practices.” Scarcella has since retired from the New York Police Department, and hopefully will have a case against him coming from Bunn.
Bunn’s legal team had many questions about the original case, such as Crosson originally describing the suspects as “light-skinned men in their 20’s.” Even the fingerprints that were found at the scene of the crime weren’t belonging to Bunn or Hargrave.
According to The New York Daily News, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice ShawnDya Simpson told Bunn in court:
“I am more than emotional about this day. You were 14 at the time. This shouldn’t have ever happened.
Move forward. Keep me posted.
This case was tried,… a jury was picked, testimony was given and it concluded all in one day. I don’t consider that justice at all.”
The moment that they shared was so touching, the whole courtroom was in tears.
An emotional Bunn had this to say after the verdict was given:
“They won’t admit I’m an innocent man. I want y’all to know that y’all convicted and had the wrong man in prison.
Y’all had the wrong man this whole time and you have (someone) out there running free and y’all had no right to do what you did.
I want to say thank you your honour because it’s been 27 years I’ve been fighting for my life.
I don’t know how I made it this far, but I believe I am here for a purpose.
I just want to be proven innocent… I didn’t want to be in the dark side of the shadows they (the prosecutors) tried to put me.”
When Bunn was released on parole in 2009, he went onto to find the nonprofit “AVoice4TheUnheard” and his mission is “to not let any of America’s 2,200,000 prisoners to feel neglected or underrepresented.”
He plans on continuing his journey and making sure nothing happens like this to anyone else.
Watch the full video below!