After 23 years of proclaiming their innocence, two Brooklyn men were fully exonerated after the highest courts in the state shut down prosecutors’ attempts to overturn a decision throwing out their kidnapping charges.  “I spent longer in prison than I should have, I just thank God,” said Everton Wagstaffe, 47.  Wagstaffe and Reginald Connor had their 1993 kidnapping convictions overturned and the original indictment dismissed last year by the state Appellate Division after it found that cops had withheld critical evidence that could have cleared them and then lied about it.  Shortly after the court's reversal, Wagstaffe was released from prison while Brooklyn prosecutors filed motions with the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division to reargue.  Conner's attorney David Toscano said in an earlier interview that “it would be a misguided use of prosecutorial resources to pursue this matter further.”  Reginald Connor, 47, who was paroled in 2004 is 'ecstatic this is all happening' and is glad his name is removed from the sex offender registry, which was also a condition of his release.  Both courts rejected the prosecutors’ motions on June 1 and on Monday, respectively.  "It still hasn't hit me yet. I'm still coming to terms with my transition," said Wagstaffe, who spends his time volunteering with troubled youth and Habitat for Humanity upstate.  Wagstaffe stood his ground throughout his 23-year bid, refusing parole offers because he had to admit his guilt in order to be released.  Connor, 47, who was paroled in 2004 is "ecstatic this is all happening" and is glad his name is removed from the sex offender registry, which was also a condition of his release.  Wagstaffe and Connor were sentenced up to 25 years in prison for kidnapping 16-year-old Jennifer Negron. Negron was found beaten to death on New Year's Day 1992 in East New York, but the trial judge dismissed the murder charges because of lack of evidence.  "We are gratified and exultant that the Second Department rejected this last effort from the Kings County District Attorney's Office to overturn the court's decision, vacating [their] conviction and dismissing the indictment," said Wagstaffe's attorney Myron Beldock.  “We respectfully disagree with the Court's decision,” said a rep for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.
Two men who proclaimed their innocence for 23 years in a Brooklyn kidnapping have finally been fully cleared of the crime.