Disgraced ex-cop defends his record in DA’s investigation

Disgraced former NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella insisted Wednesday he "did absolutely nothing wrong" in his homicide investigations — even as the Brooklyn DA revealed new information that could scuttle two more murder convictions of suspects he busted.

"I’ve been accused of crushing people’s testicles, beating people up, fabricating confessions and a multitude of other things," Scarcella, 62, told The Post Wednesday outside his Staten Island home.

"I would never let anything happen like that. You would have to be an animal and a devil to put a man away unjustifiably."

Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson is reviewing 50 of Scarcella’s murder investigations from the 1980s and 1990s — since David Ranta was freed in March 2013 after wrongfully spending 23 years in prison, due to a coached witness, for the slaying of a rabbi.

The latest botched case involves two stepbrothers convicted of a 1985 homicide largely because of a drug- addled hooker "witness" that Scarcella had used to bolster several of his cases.

The DA’s Conviction Review Unit sent a letter to Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic that expressed doubt over the convictions.

The letter reveals that prosecutors were reluctant to make an arrest in the case without eyewitnesses — and that’s when Scarcella turned to Teresa Gomez, who has testified in five of his trials.

"Teresa Gomez told Detective Scarcella that she witnessed the shooting of Ronnie Durant and positively identified the defendants," the letter reads.

Gomez testified against stepbrothers Alvena Jennette and Darryl Austin, who were convicted in 1988 and sentenced to 18 years to life, the letter states.

Jennette stayed in prison until his 2007 release. Austin died behind bars.

The letter lists notes from another detective that could have proved the stepbrothers’ innocence and that may not have been turned over to their defense team.

The notes include witnesses that named another man as the killer.

Scarcella insists he is not to blame for any false convictions.

"How can an individual frame a man and send the wrong man to jail for X amount of years? I’ve said this a year ago and I’ll say it again now, you’d have to be a devil to do that," he said.

A crowd of more than 50 people protested at City Hall Wednesday urging DA Thompson to hurry his investigation into the tainted cases.

Original report here

　

　

　

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