A Queens man who spent more than eight years behind bars in a homicide case involving disgraced NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella is now suing the city for $30 million over his wrongful conviction.
Carlos Davis was just 18 years old and about to become a first-time father when he was arrested by Scarcella for the 1988 fatal shooting of Norris “Speedy” Williams in East New York.
He was acquitted by a jury of murder charges but convicted of gun possession — a result of false testimony from a single eyewitness and fabricated evidence, his Brooklyn federal court lawsuit says.
Davis served 8¹/₂ years in prison before being released on parole in 1997.
The Brooklyn DA’s Office Conviction Review Unit — which reviewed more than 70 Scarcella-involved cases — overturned his conviction last year.
The CRU found no wrongdoing by Scarcella but it did find that the key witness gave bogus, conflicting testimony and lied about her identity.
“The Conviction Review Unit learned that Ms. [Kristie] Hayes, the prosecution’s key witness, lied in virtually every aspect of her testimony, and in all likelihood was not even present at the crime scene on the night of the shooting,” the lawsuit, filed by lawyers David Shanies and Ron Kuby, says.
“Mr. Davis’s lawsuit raises allegations of substantial prosecutorial misconduct but doesn’t allege any wrongful conduct by Detective Scarcella,” said Scarcella’s lawyer Joel Cohen. “Mr. Davis would certainly have named Scarcella as a defendant if he’d played any role in the misconduct imputed to prosecutors and other people. As well no mention of Detective Scarcella appears to have been made by the District Attorney’s Office in its decision to consent to the vacatur of Mr. Davis’s conviction.”