A wrongly convicted inmate, after 27 years behind bars, is facing one last weekend in prison over a paperwork snafu.
A frustrated Shabaka Shakur, now 50, expected to walk free Friday afternoon after his conviction was overturned and Brooklyn prosecutors announced they would not try him again.
But lawyers for the man found guilty in a 1988 double murder say officials at the Shawagunk Correctional Facility in Walkill won’t turn Shakur loose without the original order of release.
“I’m disappointed, but I can wait a couple more days,” said a clean-shaven Shakur, clad in a green prison-issued uniform. “I thought I was going home today.”
Despite the delay, Shakur was happy and excited about the future. He hopes to work with other wrongly jailed prisoners after finally getting his freedom.
“There’s a lot of innocent guys in here,” he said. “I want to help these other brothers out.”
Shakur’s lawyers insisted their client was convicted based on a bogus confession used by an NYPD detective to frame him.
Brooklyn Justice Desmond Green, who dismissed Shakur’s conviction, signed the release order. Lawyers said Shakur will likely spend the weekend in lock-up until they get the order to prison officials.
A friend said Shakur was upbeat and eager to taste freedom before the mix-up became known.
“He’s smiling, and that’s what counts,” said Derrick Hamilton, 49. “I’m overjoyed and I’m happy.”
Shakur was cleared of his conviction in the latest rebuke of a disgraced NYPD homicide detective. He spent more than half his life in a cell after his conviction for murdering a pair of high school classmates in a Jan. 11, 1988, fight over car payments.
Shakur’s conviction came after Detective Louis Scarcella claimed that the defendant confessed to him.
But Shakur’s lawyer Ron Kuby said the confession was fabricated by Scarcella as the detective successfully framed the accused killer.
Shakur never signed the confession, his alleged damning admission was not recorded on audio or video tape — and notes of the interview were later lost.
“I have nothing to say to him,” Shakur said of Scarcella. “This guy ruined families. I just want him to be investigated.”
Prosecutors are reviewing dozens of Scarcella’s cases for possible wrongdoing, and judges have already reversed convictions in eight of his cases.
A lawyer for Scarcella insisted that the detective was innocent of the charges — even though the judge in Shakur’s case cited the ex-cop’s “propensity to embellish or fabricate.”
The Brooklyn district attorney announced Thursday that it would dismiss the indictment rather than try Shakur for a second time.
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