A man who spent 17 years in jail for murder has finally been exonerated. John Bunn was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a correct...
A man who spent 17 years in jail for murder has finally been
exonerated.
John Bunn was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a
corrections officer when he was just 14-years-old. He was exonerated after 27
years, 17 of which was spent in prison.
As he was exonerated on Tuesday, tears flowed down his face
and he railed about the crooked process that stole 27 years of his life.
"They won't admit I'm an innocent man," said the
emotional Bunn, now 41, as he clutched the hands of his lawyers in a Brooklyn
courtroom.
"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."
John Bunn was convicted in the Crown Heights murder of
Rolando Neischer in 1991. He was convicted based on tainted evidence produced
by ex-Detective Louis Scarcella.
Bunn was paroled seven years earlier after spending 17
years behind bars. He had been out of prison on parole for more than a decade,
and in 2016 he successfully fought for a new trial.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Shawn'Dya Simpson tossed
Bunn's conviction in November 2016 and ordered a new trial after an evidentiary
hearing exposed Scarcella's actions. At his court hearing, the Brooklyn
district attorney's office simply said it was not able to proceed with the case
and would not retry Bunn for the murder. That lead to his full exoneration
After prosecutors agreed on Tuesday to dismiss the charges
against John Bunn, Simpson shared a brief conversation with Bunn and his
mother, Maureen, at the bench.
COMMENTS