Innocent man free after 24 yrs

A man who was wrongly put away for nearly 24 years by shady ex-NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella stepped out of a courtroom Monday a free man after the Brooklyn DA’s Office announced it wouldn’t retry him for the decades-old murder.

Rosean Hargrave (inset), 44, heaved with emotion in Brooklyn Supreme Court when he learned he was finally cleared of murdering off-duty correction officer Rolando Neischer in 1991.

“It’s been 27 years,” Hargrave said. “There were times I saw death.”

Hargrave was just 17 when he and John Bunn, who was then 14, were found guilty of Neischer’s death.

Fingerprints at the scene didn’t match either teen’s and the lone witness gave con- flicting descriptions of the suspects.

In 2015, Brooklyn Judge ShawnDya Simpson vacated Hargrave’s conviction and granted him a new trial — saying he was convicted “based solely on identification of evidence” brought by Scarcella.

The DA’s office appealed, but last month, a panel of appellate judges unanimously affirmed Simpson’s decision.

Meanwhile, Bunn’s attorney said he is expected to be fully cleared Tuesday. Bunn, who was paroled in 2009, was also exonerated by Simpson.

The DA’s office withdrew its appeal of Simpson’s ruling after the same appellate division upheld Hargrave’s overturned conviction.