Source: NY Post
The New York man who was wrongfully convicted of murder for a 1997 Brooklyn homicide was finally released from jail Tuesday after it was revealed that the key eyewitness was incarcerated at the time she claimed to have seen him before the murder.
Roger Logan spent 17 years behind bars after he fell victim to the work of a disgraced detective.
The witness, who was provided by former New York Police Department Detective Louis Scarcella, had actually been in jail during the time she claimed to have spotted Logan in the area shortly before the murder took place.
“That testimony – whether by design or by mistake – was false,” said Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale.
Logan has always maintained his innocence and says he is relieved that he is finally free.
“It’s been a long wait,” he said after being released. “I want to just taste the freedom.”
Logan managed to keep his good spirits intact as he joked about wanting to get out of the clothes he had to wear to court.
“And I want to get out of these crummy clothes,” he told reporters as he pointed to his khaki pants. “It’s definitely not me.”
Outside of the Brooklyn Supreme Court, Logan was seen taking “selfies” with his niece and reuniting with other family members.
Louis Scarcella
His lawyer, Harold Baker, said he was happy Logan was a free man but was shocked by Scarcella’s apparent lack of integrity.
“That they went into so much trouble to frame this person shocks the conscience,” Baker said.
Unfortunately, Logan is only one of many who may have been put behind bars thanks to Scarcella’s methods.
Another man, David Ranta, was placed behind bars after an eyewitness was coached to pick him out of a lineup.
Upon further investigation, the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office determined that police had mishandled Ranta’s case.
He was released after spending more than 20 years in jail.
After learning that Ranta had been exonerated, Logan reached out to prosecutors to have his own case evaluated.
More than 50 cases that Scarcella handled before retiring have been under review to ensure no other innocent person is spending time in jail because of the detective’s tactics.
The new DA has already cleared six other men whose cases were connected to Scarcella. All of the men spent at least 20 years behind bars and all of them were innocent.
