Shoot case flops after Bx. youth’s year in jail
Hernandez was finally sprung from Rikers on July 27 after the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group put up his bail.
As word of the case spread, prosecutors pointed to allegations that seemed to punch holes in the growing narrative painting Hernandez as a squeaky clean teen ensnared in a corrupt criminal justice system.
They said Hernandez had gang ties and a substantial criminal record, though four of his seven felony arrests since 2014 were dropped.
Hernandez’s supporters, meanwhile, argued that the teen was done in by David Terrell, a detective who worked in Morrisania, the Bronx. Terrell, who was stripped of his gun and badge last year amid allegations of domestic abuse, has been sued more than a dozen times over the past decade.
The 44-year-old detective filed a $175 million notice of claim, accusing the city of failing to protect cops against frivolous lawsuits.
Asked to comment on the dropped charges, Terrell’s lawyer Eric Sanders said his client “offers no personal opinion other than to reemphasize he played ‘no investigative role’ in the Hernandez prosecution.”
Terrell wasn’t the only figure linked to the case with a checkered past.
Hernandez’s private investigator, Manuel Gomez, is a former NYPD cop who was placed on one-year probation in 2006 after he failed an Internal Affairs Bureau integrity test by neglecting to voucher a quantity of placebo heroin.
And the Daily News revealed last month an unusual relationship between the case’s central figures — Hernandez, the alleged key witness William Stevens and victim Shaun Nardoni. All three are represented by the same civil lawyer John Scola in suits against the city, Terrell and the 42nd Precinct in the Bronx.
Clark said her office’s Public Integrity Unit will probe allegations that detectives coerced witnesses.
“I also will not tolerate misconduct by law enforcement,” she said.
Hernandez is set to go to trial on Oct. 23 to face charges connected to a robbery on Nov. 6, 2015. Prosecutors say Hernandez used a knife to steal a cell phone and remote car alarm in a Bronx schoolyard.
The teen said he’s “not concerned” about the upcoming trial and is instead looking forward to furthering his education.
“I just gotta go off and study, do great in college, and make my mom proud,” he said.