Wrongful Conviction, Unequal Compensation
Posted on 15. Jul, 2009 by Clark Merrefield in News Features
By Clark Merrefield
In March 1996, a bodega clerk scanned a lineup of suspects at a police station in Astoria, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Two armed men in ski masks had robbed his nearby store. The clerk recalled glimpses of light black skin behind one mask, though he hadn’t seen either robber’s face.
He picked out John Scott, a construction worker. Scott later testified he was nowhere near the store. The clerk conceded at trial he was uncertain Scott was one of the robbers. Despite the clerk’s reversal, Scott was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Scott languished in jail four years before an appeals court threw out the conviction.
