Albert Mitchel - False Accusation / Police Misconuct
Mitchel, Albert ; drug possession/sale; NRE: plea, perjury/false accusation, no crime, police officer misconduct, withheld exculpatory evidence, misconduct that is not withholding evidence
From NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"On October 4, 2007, 42-year-old Albert Mitchel was arrested by members of the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit in Brooklyn...and charged with possession of 17 bags of crack cocaine.
"After four court appearances, Mitchel pled guilty...to possession of narcotics.
"While awaiting sentencing, Sean Johnstone, a member of the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit who was involved in the arrest of Mitchel, and Julio Alvarez, another narcotics unit officer, claimed to have received 17 plastic bags of cocaine, rather than the 28 bags they actually recovered from a different drug suspect in Brooklyn. A day later, Johnstone, in a police vehicle, was overheard on a departmental tape recording bragging to another officer about the practice of keeping drugs to give them to informants, officials said.
"In December 2007, Johnstone and Alvarez were each charged with official misconduct, falsifying business records and filing false documents. Ultimately, the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit scandal widened to include charges against other officers and the dismissal of hundreds of pending drug cases in which the officers were involved. Johnstone and several other officers were convicted of misconduct. One officer pled guilty and testified at the trial of the other defendants that it was a routine practice to plant drugs on defendants so that detectives could meet arrest quotas.
"In January 2008, the [Brooklyn DA's] Office moved to vacate the guilty plea and dismiss the charge against Mitchel, who was released."