$40G break after a bogus slay rap
A Brooklyn man who was exonerated months ago after serving 18 years in prison on a bogus murder rap is off the hook again - this time for child support charges he racked up while in jail.
Sundhe Moses was ecstatic in February when a judge told him he was free to go following a decision by prosecutors not to retry him on a murder charge in connection with the 1995 drive-by shooting death of 4-year-old girl, Shamone Johnson.
But he was quickly shackled with a $40,000 bill for child support that he was unable to pay while locked up.
“I waited so long for this day,” Moses said. “Now I can move forward.”
While Moses, 42, was serving a 15-years-to-life sentence, the payments and penalties continued to grow on the money he owed to help support his son, Shaquille, who was 8 months old when Moses was arrested.
Disgraced retired Detective Louis Scarcella collared Moses when he was 19, and coerced him into confessing, according to trial testimony.
Since Moses’ release on parole, he has paid $7,247 in back child support while fighting in criminal court to clear his name.
“It makes - whether guilty or innocent - reentry into the community even harder,” said Ron Kuby, an attorney who proved Moses’ innocence after a hearing in 2017.
“Having this added debt makes it harder to get back on your feet.”
Once Moses started working, his paychecks were garnished and his bank accounts were frozen, he said.
“This decision was big for me and others,” Moses said. “The financial burden could send others back to prison for not being able to pay.”
In February, after Brooklyn prosecutors announced they would not retry the murder case, Moses filed a motion to vacate the remaining child support tab.
Not only is Moses off the hook for the balance - he is owed a refund.
Lucian Chalfan, a spokesman for the state’s Unified Court System, confirmed that Moses’ debt was “set to zero.”
“This should be on the state’s tab,” said Kuby, who filed a notice of claim for the wrongful conviction against the city, NYPD, Scarcella and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.