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Handcuffed Prisoner

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A man who was wrongly convicted for the murder of an off-duty correction officer in Brooklyn finally has his good name back after serving 17 years in prison.

According to CNN, on Tuesday (May 15) a Brooklyn judge officially exonerated John Bunn, who’s now 41.

“It has been 27 years, I’ve been fighting for my life and I’ve been fighting for my innocence,” Bunn said in tears, holding Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Shawn’Dya Simpson’s hands.

See, Bunn was freed on parole after serving 17 years behind bars, but he fought for a new trial two years ago. Bunn was convicted for the August 1991 killing based on tainted evidence produced by ex-Detective Louis Scarcella, the New York Daily News reported.

Yahoo News noted that Scarcella is now a disgraced former detective whose casework has prompted a large-scale review by Brooklyn’s district attorney. Since then, dozens of cases linked to Scarcella are under investigation and several convictions have been overturned.

While Bunn was elated to gain his freedom, he expressed anger for the years of his life the justice system robbed from him.

“They won’t admit I’m an innocent man. 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.”

His lawyers claim that Bunn and a second man were framed for the killing.

“There were problems with this case that were very obvious,” said defense lawyer Glenn Garber. “There was no probable cause to make an arrest.”

Apparently, Bunn’s initial trial was concluded in one day as a jury found him guilty.

Judge Simpson told the court, “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.”

She added, “I am more than emotional about this day. You were 14 at the time. This shouldn’t have ever happened.”

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Man Wrongly Convicted Of Murder At 14, Finally Clears Name 27 Years Later  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com