Brooklyn district attorney moves to vacate wrongful conviction in 1996 homicide case

January 19, 2024 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

The case, which will be presented by District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s Conviction Review Unit before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic, adds to the 37 convictions vacated by the Conviction Review Unit since 2014.
Photo: Rob Abruzzese/Brooklyn Eagle

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District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Thursday his decision to vacate the conviction of Steven Ruffin, who served 14 years for a 1996 homicide he did not commit.

Ruffin, wrongfully convicted at 18 for the murder of 16-year-old James Deligny, was released on parole in 2010. The Conviction Review Unit (CRU) of the District Attorney’s Office conducted a thorough reinvestigation, revealing that crucial evidence was overlooked and the actual perpetrator was never properly investigated.

“After a full investigation by my Conviction Review Unit, we can no longer stand by this old conviction and will move to give Mr. Ruffin his good name back,” Gonzalez said.

“A confluence of factors, including errors by defense counsel and tunnel vision by law enforcement, produced a tragic result in this case — Mr. Ruffin was convicted for the actions of a different person whom he claimed to be the killer all along,” Gonzalez continued. “We will continue to correct miscarriages of justice and to learn from the mistakes we uncover to ensure that they never happen again.”

The tragic case unfolded on Feb. 5, 1996, when Deligny was mistakenly killed in Crown Heights, believed to be involved in a robbery against Ruffin’s sister. Ruffin was convicted partly based on a witness description and a coerced confession following an interrogation by the now-retired Detective Louis Scarcella.

The defense’s claim that the real killer was the boyfriend of Ruffin’s sister, who handed over the murder weapon to detectives and had a similar physical description to Ruffin, including a cracked tooth, was not adequately pursued, the DA’s Office concluded.

The CRU found serious errors in the defense’s handling of the case and inconsistencies in the identification of Ruffin and his confession.

The investigation highlighted the boyfriend’s failure to refute his involvement, his possession of the murder weapon and his confession to several individuals. The defense attorney, now deceased, failed to highlight critical evidence, such as the boyfriend’s cracked tooth and the lack of an identification procedure involving him.

DA Gonzalez cited “errors by defense counsel and tunnel vision by law enforcement” as contributing factors to Ruffin’s wrongful conviction. The case, which will be presented before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic, adds to the 37 convictions vacated by the CRU since 2014, with around 40 open investigations currently underway.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Alderman, formerly of the CRU, led the investigation under the supervision of Charles Linehan, unit chief.