Innocent Man Who Spent 20 Yrs In Prison For BK Shooting Sues City

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — When Eric DeBerry went to prison for a shooting in early 2000, he was in his 20s working as a painter, his daughter was only a few months old and both his parents were still alive.

Twenty years later — when a judge overturned his conviction — he returned to his neighborhood in Crown Heights a 44-year-old man, carrying the psychological trauma of spending two decades behind bars. Now, he's suing the people he says put him there.

"Mr. DeBerry...spent his entire young adulthood imprisoned for a crime he did not commit," a lawsuit filed this week on his behalf states.

"...He lost a career as a commercial painter, precious time with his family and friends, and the most vital years of his life. He lost both his parents, who died during his incarceration. He was also deprived of the opportunity to develop a relationship with his daughter, who was only a few months old when he was arrested."

The new lawsuit, seeking damages for his wrongful conviction, was filed Tuesday against the city and two NYPD officers involved in DeBerry's 1999 arrest, which came after the victim of a shooting in Bed-Stuy testified that DeBerry had been the one who pulled the trigger, according to the suit.

The victim, Kareem Collins, recanted his testimony in 2018, more than 15 years after the actual shooter, Roberto Velasquez, confessed in 2002, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit contends that Collins was pushed to identify DeBerry as the shooter by a former NYPD detective, who heard secondhand from someone who hadn't seen the shooting that someone named "Eric" was the perpetrator, according to the complaint.

The detective, Patricia Tufo, coerced Collins into identifying DeBerry by threatening to arrest him on a gun charge that was filed against him at the time, the suit alleges. Collins' testimony was the only evidence against DeBerry at trial, according to the suit.

"Mr. Collins...testified that he falsely identified Mr. DeBerry as the shooter because he feared Defendant Tufo and what she might do to him," the suit writes about Collins' 2018 retraction.

The NYPD declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation.

DeBerry first filed to have his conviction overturned in 2002, when Velasquez admitted in a sworn confession that he had shot Collins when Collins tried to rob him near a housing complex known as Smurf Village, according to the suit.

But a judge ruled against him because Velasquez's story did not match the one Collins had told at trial. That story accused DeBerry of robbing and shooting Collins after recognizing him as a rival gang member, according to the suit.

Collins ultimately admitted that the shooting unfolded when he followed Velasquez to Smurf Village from a restaurant with the intention of robbing him, according to the suit.

The lawsuit contends not only that Brooklyn prosecutors, the NYPD and the city, should have prevented the wrongful conviction, but that a plague of "institutional deficiencies" allowed for it to happen.

DeBerry was let out of jail in June 2020. He told Patch that the lawsuit is his chance for justice after the 20-year imprisonment.

“Even though the evidence of my innocence was overwhelming, New York refused to vacate my conviction and fought me every step of the way, until I took them to trial, and won," he said. "I am hopeful that I will finally receive the reparation that I deserve.”