Disgraced Ex-Cop Framed Crown Heights Teen For Murder: Lawsuit

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Crown Heights man convicted of murder as a teenager is suing a disgraced ex-cop for framing him, court records show.

John Bunn — just 14 when he received a life sentence for killing an off-duty Rikers Island guard in August 1991 — filed a civil suit Wednesday against former homicide detective Louis Scarcella, a "rock-star homicide detective" accused of framing at least eight people for murder.

"When interviewed on the Dr. Phil television show he bragged that he didn’t 'play by the rules,'" the suit reads. "It was Scarcella’s pattern and practice ... to get civilian witnesses to falsely identify and implicate innocent suspects."

Bunn, who spent 17 years in prison for the murder of Rikers Island guard Rolando Neischer, filed his suit about one year after evidence of Scarcella's tactics spurred a Brooklyn Supreme Court justice to dismiss the charges against him.

The National Registry of Exonerations, a database that tracks U.S. wrongful convictions, has since found that 14 out of 36 wrongful convictions in Brooklyn during the 1980s and 1990s involved Scarcella.

Bunn's attorneys say Bunn was framed by Scarcella and another 77th precinct homicide detective who arrested the 14-year-old without a warrant, coerced a possibly inebriated witness to identify him as the gunman, then lied to prosecutors about their tactics.

Robert Crosson, the other prison guard to be shot outside the Kingsborough Houses, initially said two tall men in their 20s attacked him and his friend, according to the complaint.

But after Scarcella showed him a photo array with Bunn and 16-year-old Rosean Hargrave's photos, he identified two teenaged boys, one of whom stood just 5-foot 2-inches tall, as his attackers.

No physical evidence was ever found to link Bunn to the crime scene, according to the lawsuit.

Once arrested, Bunn was locked in the precinct for hours, and when his mother tried to come get him, he called out, “Mommy, they are trying to say I killed somebody.”

Bunn was convicted of Decemeber that same year and sentenced to nine years to life in prison, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claims Bunn was physically and emotionally abused by correction officers who knew he was convicted of killing a Rikers Island Guard.

Bunn's attorneys are seeking a jury trial and money damages for the violation of his constitutional rights.

Patch reached out to the NYPD for comment and will update this story upon receipt.