NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Nearly 200 misdemeanor convictions tied to 8 NYPD officers who previously "abused their positions of power" -- including bribery, stealing and selling firearms, and perjury -- have been vacated, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thursday.
Bragg moved to vacate the convictions "on the grounds of due process violations and dismiss the underlying cases following an investigation conducted by the Office’s Post-Conviction Justice Unit," explained a press release from Bragg's office. "Today’s vacaturs are part of an ongoing PCJU review of more than 1,100 cases connected to a list of 22 former NYPD officers convicted of crimes provided to the Office in 2021 by public defender and advocacy groups."
Bragg said in a statement, "Trust and confidence are essential to achieving public safety. New Yorkers must know that everyone is acting with the utmost integrity in the pursuit of equal justice under the law. Without that belief, our criminal justice system will never be able to deliver real and lasting safety that every community deserves."
He added, "While most law enforcement officials and police officers are dedicated public servants, these eight officers, who played a material role in hundreds of arrests, criminally abused their positions of power. These illegal actions irrevocably taint these convictions and represent a significant violation of due process rights – the foundational principle of our legal system.
The Legal Aid Society, New York County Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Assigned Counsel Plan joined Bragg in calling for the convictions to be vacated.
"The Legal Aid Society lauds District Attorney Alvin Bragg for vacating these convictions involving discredited NYPD officers," said Elizabeth Felber, the director of the Legal Aid Society's Wrongful Conviction Unity. "While this moment delivers some justice and closure to these New Yorkers, they were forced to endure hardships that should have never been allowed to happen. This includes incarceration, hefty legal fees, loss of employment, housing instability, severed access to critical benefits and other collateral consequences."
She added, "Going forward, we urge DA Bragg and all of the other New York City District Attorneys to conduct these reviews on an ongoing basis and with full transparency. The mandate to do justice must include evaluating criminal conduct by law enforcement with the same lens that is used with every other New Yorker. To do otherwise erodes the public’s trust in law enforcement and the criminal legal system.”
The arrests occurred between 2001 and 2016. More than half of the sentences resulted in fines or incarceration. The officers – all of whom played a material role in these convictions – include:
Jason Arbeeny: convicted of Official Misconduct, Offering a False Instrument for Filing and Falsifying Business Records for planting drugs on two individuals. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and 300 hours of community service in 2012.
Michael Arenella: convicted of Petit Larceny, Official Misconduct and Falsifying Business Records for taking money from an undercover officer who posed as a drug dealer and using the money to pay an informant. He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service in 2009.
Michael Carsey: convicted of Perjury in the First Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree for lying under oath about how he obtained information that led to an arrest. He was sentenced to conditional discharge with 36 days of community service in 2012.
Johnny Diaz: convicted of Bribe-Receiving in the Second Degree, Petit Larceny and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree for accepting bribes and gifts from an undercover officer posing as a drug dealer, who he also helped to transport cocaine. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
William Eiseman: convicted of Perjury in the First Degree and Official Misconduct for providing false testimony and conducting unlawful searches. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and three months in jail in 2011.
Michael Foder: convicted of False Declarations before Grand Jury or Court for lying under oath at a federal hearing. He was sentenced to three months in jail in 2019. He was sentenced to three months in jail on the federal perjury charges in 2019.
Richard Hall: convicted of Bribe-Receiving in the Third Degree and Official Misconduct for releasing an 18-year-old woman from custody in exchange for sexual favors from her. He was sentenced to five years’ probation in 2019.
Nicholas Mina: convicted of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the Second Degree, Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the Third Degree, Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree for stealing and selling guns from a precinct house. He was sentenced to a total of 15 ½ years.
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