DShariff Wilson and the DNA test

The case (No. 7325-92), February 6th, at 2pm, was heard by the Honorable Luis Guzman, Justice New York Supreme Court, Criminal Term, Kings County (320 Jay Street, 19th Floor). The newly-elected Kings County District Attorney, Ken Thompson, had arranged for Yarbough to be brought down from Attica, so he could be in court on this afternoon.

At this time, both Yarbough and Wilson have been freed and their cases dismissed on consent of the District Attorney. Wilson had been previously brought down to Riker’s from an upstate prison. He has been here for several months while I have been coordinating the final phase of the exoneration investigation with one of the senior homicide prosecutors in Brooklyn, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale.

These two men being exonerated is part of a much bigger story in New York City. There are now over sixty exoneration cases that have recently flooded the Brooklyn DA’s Office following the March 2013 exoneration of David Ranta. That non-DNA case resulted from a false confession. As a result, every case made by Detective Louis Scancarella has been cast in doubt. The cases of Wilson and Yarbough also involve false confessions (as well as DNA) but with different detectives, so these exonerations will lead to even more cases being questioned