‘FREE AT LAST’
MAN FRAMED BY DISGRACED COP RELEASED AFTER 23 YRS.
A once-convicted killer walked out of prison Tuesday after 23 years — courtesy of the same dubious detectives who helped lock him up.
Eliseo DeLeon received hugs and cheers after leaving a Brooklyn courtroom where his murder conviction was vacated by a judge who cited the sketchy statements of ex-NYPD Detectives Louis Scarcella and his partner Stephen Chmil in her decision.
“Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last,” said a beaming DeLeon, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a smile stretched across his bearded face. “It feels great.”
DeLeon, who’s spent more than half his life behind bars, is not quite clear of the legal system. The now-42-year-old defendant, after posting $100,000 bail, returns to court Nov. 26 for a hearing where Brooklyn prosecutors will decide whether to cut DeLeon loose, appeal the case or opt for a retrial.
A retrial appears least likely since it would probably return the now-notorious Scarcella to the witness stand. Eight of the detective’s convictions have been overturned in the past six years at the request of prosecutors. Seven other convictions, including DeLeon’s, were tossed by judges citing connections to Scarcella.
“The court does not find the testimony by these detectives to be credible,” said state Supreme Court Justice Dina Douglas, invoking the names of Scarcella, Chmil and fellow Detective Anthony Baker. “Detectives Scarcella and Chmil demonstrate a disregard for the law that was very troubling to this court.”
DeLeon was just a teen at the time of the June 4, 1995, shooting murder of Fausto Cordero during a botched Brooklyn street robbery. DeLeon was identified by three eyewitnesses in a police lineup, and supposedly admitted that his gun went off accidentally with a bullet fatally striking Cordero.
The suspect has long asserted that he made no such admission, and insisted his conviction was based on a confession concocted by the detectives.
Defense lawyer Cary London said DeLeon wasn’t even thinking yet of next week’s hearing, instead focusing on time with his relatives.
“All he wants to do is take a hot shower, have a haircut and have a meal with his family,” said London. “The only people who should be going back into jail … should be Louis Scarcella and his partner Stephen Chmil.”
DeLeon, after swapping his prison garb for street clothes, kissed his infant niece and offered hearty bear hugs to Derrick Hamilton and Shabaka Shakur — two excons cleared since the Scarcella probe began in 2013.
But Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez indicated his office intends to prosecute DeLeon and win another conviction.
“We do not believe that the defendant established his innocence at the hearing, and are confident we will prevail at an appeal or a potential retrial,” said a Gonzalez spokesman. “The defendant was identified by multiple witnesses who never recanted, and he has admitted his guilt on multiple occasions.”
DeLeon shrugged off questions about those who believe he is guilty of the killing.
“That’s their prerogative,” he said. “They have the right to their own opinion, and I can’t change their mind for them.”
The cigar-chomping Scarcella, who retired in 1999 after 26 years with the NYPD, spent the last six years standing his ground in the wake of allegations of illegality in his handling of the DeLeon case and others. Scarcella remained resolute that he never once delivered a phone confession during his time on the force.
Several other people imprisoned by Scarcella investigations have been freed after hearings. Asked about the detectives’ alleged behavior, DeLeon said he wouldn’t speak to the issue.
“They’ll have to be judged by God,” he said. “Not me …. The only thing I can do is go out there and be a productive person in society.”