That’s how the prosecution described two NYPD detectives, Stephen Chmil and Louis Scarcella, at the trial of “a drug-addicted, unemployed printer” named David Ranta:
At trial, prosecutors acknowledged the detectives had misbehaved but depicted them as likable scamps.
Mr. Ranta was charged with shooting Chaskel Werzberger, a Hasidic rabbi, during a robbery that went bad. Mr. Ranta was convicted in 1991 and has spent the years since in prison.
Mr. Ranta could walk free as early as Thursday. In the decades since a jury convicted him of murder, nearly every piece of evidence in this case has fallen away. A key witness told The New York Times that a detective instructed him to select Mr. Ranta in the lineup. A convicted rapist told the district attorney that he falsely implicated Mr. Ranta in hopes of cutting a deal for himself. A woman has signed an affidavit saying she too lied about Mr. Ranta’s involvement.
Detective Scarcella and his partner, Stephen Chmil, according to investigators and legal documents, broke rule after rule. They kept few written records, coached a witness and took Mr. Ranta’s confession under what a judge described as highly dubious circumstances. They allowed two dangerous criminals, an investigator said, to leave jail, smoke crack cocaine and visit with prostitutes in exchange for incriminating Mr. Ranta.
Yeah. “Likable scamps” fabricated evidence and put an innocent man away for 22 years.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 at 8:31 am and is filed under Clippings, Cops, Law, Louis Scarcella. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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They didn’t break any rules, they broke the fucking law! Have you seen pictures of this guy? He’s an asshole on testosterone. Jail the mofo.
Scarcella should be thoroughly investigated for this and any other shakey cases he was involved with then prosecuted to the fullest. My thoughts and prayers go out to the man freed today. The city should give him a few thousand right now to keep hin going till he gets the millons they owe him. I’m sure he has no money now. If there was a fund I would donate now.
[…] Remember Detective Louis Scarcella, aka one of the “likeable scamps” who put David Ranta away for 22 years? […]