Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez is seeking to dismiss 90 convictions, including 27 felony convictions, that relied on testimony from a former undercover NYPD detective who allegedly framed four men.
The disgraced ex-cop, Joseph Franco, has been indicted in Manhattan for perjury, official misconduct and other charges in connection with the alleged setup, which involved narcotics sales.
Franco asserted that he had witnessed several drug deals but video evidence later debunked his accounts.
The Brooklyn DA’s Convictions Review Unit did not find overt evidence of wrongdoing in their cases relying on Franco, but the office still chose to seek their dismissal because it “lost confidence” in their integrity.
“Knowingly and repeatedly framing innocent people obliterates the credibility of any police officer and proving perjury in such circumstances is rare,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
The DA will request that 27 felony and 63 misdemeanor convictions — mostly related to drug sales — be tossed.
“His cases in Brooklyn are over a decade old, which limited our ability to reinvestigate them, but I cannot in good faith stand by convictions that principally relied on his testimony,” Gonzalez said.
Most of the defendants in Franco’s Brooklyn cases served between 6 months and a year behind bars.
Franco was fired from the NYPD in May 2020 after a Manhattan grand jury handed down the indictments in July 2019.
