![]() ![]() The concern over officers making false or misleading statements about crimes is not new. Franco was involved in and flagged those that could not have been prosecuted without his accounts, he said. The office eventually pulled together a list of cases Mr. Franco in Manhattan, it was not immediately apparent that the detective also had worked in Brooklyn, Mr. Gonzalez said that his office could not fully reinvestigate many of the 90 cases: Video evidence had often long been lost, and potential witnesses from over a decade ago could not be tracked down.Īfter charges were brought against Mr. “But honestly, I don’t know that I feel any better. “I got the call that this was happening and it was supposed to be good news,” he said. ![]() The man, now 35, said the transition home was rocky, and the arrests continue to affect him. The man was fresh out of high school, with a young son and a second child on the way, when he was arrested in 2005, he said. Confronted with the prospect of a police officer’s testimony, he pleaded guilty. The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns, said he was charged with several low-level drug crimes that he did not commit. Franco is set to have each case dismissed, lawyers said. One man who was arrested three times by Mr. “They likely had bail set on them, spent time at Rikers Island, lost jobs, were separated from their families - no matter what happens, those harms were done.” “The damage is done at the point of arrest,” said Tina Luongo, a lawyer who heads the criminal defense practice at the Legal Aid Society. In New York and elsewhere, records of some minor convictions have been expunged - an attempt to make amends for what is now seen as overly aggressive policing of drug crimes in the past.īut erasing records can only go so far, public defenders say. In recent years, attention on those lasting effects has grown. It was unclear how often the crime represented their first or only conviction, the district attorney’s office and public defenders said.Įven those who did not serve lengthy sentences were left with criminal records, which can have long-term consequences for housing and work prospects. Most of those who faced more serious charges for drug sales - 27 people in total - spent between six months to a year behind bars. Gonzalez’s office was not certain of the racial breakdown, but believed that many were Black and Latino, groups who have represented a disproportionate bulk of many drug charges in the city. The group - mostly men arrested between 20 - spanned generations: Several were under 20 years old at the time of their arrests, and dozens were older than 40. Gonzalez is seeking to dismiss were charged with drug-related crimes, including many for low-level possession offenses. Nearly all of the people whose convictions that Mr. Franco’s lawyer, Howard Tanner, said his client is presumed innocent and said he would be “vigorously defending” the case in Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Franco was charged in 2019 with 26 criminal counts, including perjury and official misconduct, after investigators in the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that he had testified to witnessing several drug buys that video footage showed did not happen or that he could not have seen. In New York City, legislators recently made it easier to sue officers for conducting illegal searches or using excessive force. The move represents one of the largest dismissals of convictions in the state over concerns about official misconduct, and comes amid a heightened national conversation about holding police accountable and curbing abuses among officers. “It’s clear that we couldn’t responsibly rely on his testimony to stand by these convictions.” “We’re in a moment of talking about criminal justice reform,” Mr. The office did not uncover new evidence of possible misconduct - and none of the people involved still remain behind bars. On Wednesday, the Brooklyn district attorney, Eric Gonzalez, will ask judges to dismiss years-old drug cases in which Mr. Many more cases in other boroughs could follow - a reckoning that lawyers said appears larger than any in the city’s legal system in recent history. Franco’s police work is spreading: As many as 90 convictions that he helped secure in Brooklyn will be thrown out, prosecutors plan to announce Wednesday. Franco was charged with perjury in Manhattan in 2019. After he was accused of lying about drug sales that videos showed never happened, Mr. Franco often worked undercover, and his testimony secured convictions for prosecutors around the city.īut officials who once relied on Mr. Franco made thousands of arrests, many for the possession and sale of drugs. Over nearly two decades as a police officer and narcotics detective, Joseph E. ![]()
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