Adams calls for state commission to investigate Brooklyn’s wrongful convictions ‘crisis’
No one exempt, including former top officials; Brooklyn DA candidates react to proposal
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Tuesday called for an independent state commission to investigate who was responsible for dozens of wrongful convictions over the past decades at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Out of 70 cases investigated since 2014, 23 have been overturned by Brooklyn’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU), initiated by former Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, now deceased. One of the exonerated men died in prison. Dozens of cases originating during the era of former DA Charles Hynes are still under review under Acting DA Eric Gonzalez.
“This is not a criticism of one particular individual, one particular prosecutor, one particular office,” Adams emphasized. “We believe this is a statewide — if not a national — problem.”