Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., together with the Legal Aid Society, New York County Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Assigned Counsel Plan today moved to vacate 188 misdemeanor convictions tied to eight New York City Police Department officers previously convicted of crimes related to their law enforcement duties.
The District Attorney’s Office 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 (“PCJU”). 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.
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“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,” said District Attorney Bragg.
“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 collateral consequences of a conviction are significant. The stigma lasts a lifetime and prevents people from finding a job, going back to school or securing housing. My hope is that by vacating these convictions, we can help the individuals impacted move on with their lives and fully participate in society.
This represents an important step forward, but we know there is a lot more work to do, and our investigation remains ongoing. We cannot allow unconstitutional convictions to continue to hinder the lives of New Yorkers.”
“The Legal Aid Society lauds District Attorney Alvin Bragg for vacating these convictions involving discredited NYPD officers. 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,” said Elizabeth Felber, director of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “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 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 of 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.
The investigation is being led by Assistant D.A. Elizabeth Seymour, Deputy Chief of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit, under the supervision of Terri Rosenblatt (Chief of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit). Assistant D.A. Willoughby Jenett, and Investigative Analysts Daniel Altabet and Thomas Martin provided invaluable assistance.
