In$ult to injury for framed vic

A BROOKLYN man who spent 18 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit wants a judge to throw out a $40,000 bill for child support he was unable to pay while locked up.

Sundhe Moses, 42, was cleared of the 1995 drive-by shooting of 4-year-old Shamone Johnson in January. He was one of nearly a dozen people whose cases were overturned due to the questionable police tactics of now-retired NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella.

Last month, Moses (photo) filed a papers in Brooklyn Family Court asking a judge to modify or erase his hefty child support bill, since he was unable to earn an income through no fault of his own.

“The reason that my arrears are the amount they are is because it accrued over a period of 181/2 years. During that time, I was incarcerated for a crime I did not commit and therefore was unable to pay,” Moses said in court documents.

His ordeal highlights the unique obstacles the wrongfully convicted face upon reentering society. Moses is so broke he can’t afford a lawyer — and Family Court does not assign parents an attorney until they’re on the brink of going to jail for failure to pay child support.

Yet Moses’ bank account was frozen last week due to the unpaid child support. He says $160 of his $380 paycheck from Good Shepherd is garnisheed for child support.

“Many states treat incarceration as voluntary unemployment — and child support continues to accrue while a convicted person is utterly incapable of earning a living,” said attorney Ron Kuby, who represents Moses in his criminal case. “It adds a crushing and utterly unfair burden to someone trying to get back on their feet.”

At the time of the shooting that landed him behind bars, Moses was 19 and the father of an 8-month-old son, Shaquille. He was paroled in December 2013 for the drive-by at the Prospect Plaza Houses in Brownsville that also wounded four others. He spent the subsequent years fighting for his exoneration and reconnecting with his now-adult son, who is in the Army.

Meanwhile, Moses was hit with a bill for a whopping $39,724.82, according to court documents. Nearly $10,000 of the total goes to public assistance and the rest to Shaquille’s mother, he said.

After over four years of freedom, Moses has only been able to pay $7,247. Efforts to reach Shaquille and his mom, Kawana Harper, were unsuccessful.

Moses is expected to sue over his 18 years behind bars. But he must await a decision from prosecutors on whether they will retry his case before suing.

Since 2014, more than 25 men and a woman were exonerated either by the Brooklyn district attorney’s Conviction Review Unit or a judge. Cynthia Godsoe, an associate professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, noted Moses’ predicament could become more common as district attorneys throughout the city and state review questionable convictions.

“This is a major barrier for someone who is getting released from prison especially someone who was found to be wrongfully convicted,” Godsoe said.