When John Bunn was 14 years old, he was charged and convicted of murdering an off-duty corrections officer, Robert Crosson. Bunn’s case was set up and tried in a single day in 1991, with big evidentiary holes, and ended with the 14-year-old boy losing his childhood and more than a decade of his adulthood to a prison sentence. Bunn was paroled in 2009 after serving 17 years, in part because he was a “model” prisoner, and also because he valiantly rescued a prison counselor from being raped. After getting out of prison he began a reading program for prisoners still inside, called AVoice4theUnheard, but he has also been working to have his conviction and the indictment completely wiped away. That happened on Tuesday. NY1 has Judge ShawnDya Simpson’s emotional statement from the hearing. Prosecutors announced that they would not be pursuing any charges against Bunn, effectively exonerating him.
"In one day they picked a jury, they had openings, they had witnesses, and a conclusion on a murder trial which I do not consider justice at all," Simpson said.
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"The onus had a lot to do with Scarcella, and unfortunately he affected your life and the life of many," Simpson said.
Bunn’s case was worked by disgraced former New York City Police Detective Louis Scarcella. Scarcella was “disgraced” when it came to light that he had a pattern of awful corruption when it came to getting convictions by way of coaching witnesses to pick people out of lineups, even if they didn’t recognize those people.
Bunn is 41 years old now, and the entire proceeding was deeply emotional for everyone in the courtoom. As CNN reports, after the prosecutor’s announcement in open court, Bunn had very strong words to say through tears.
"It has been 27 years, I've been fighting for my life and I've been fighting for my innocence," he said.
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"I didn't deserve any of that stuff that you all did to me," Bunn said to prosecutors.
"They won't admit and say that I'm an innocent man. But I'm an innocent man, your honor, and I have always been an innocent man," Bunn said in court. "You all convicted and had a wrong man in prison, and you all still have somebody on the loose that killed someone."
The
Daily News reports that Judge Simpson was emotional as well.
"I am more than emotional about this day," said Simpson as her voice cracked. "You were 14 at the time. This shouldn't have ever happened."
You can watch some of the court proceedings in the news report below. Warning: It has all of the feelings. All of them.