Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times  Leaving services in 1995 for Shamone Johnson, age 4, who was killed by a stray bullet in a cross-fire in Brooklyn.  A sweeping investigation into cases handled years ago by a retired Brooklyn homicide detective has turned up a witness to a 1995 murder who says the police coached him into giving false testimony.  The witness, Sharron Ivory, gave crucial evidence in one of roughly 40 trial convictions handled by the detective, Louis Scarcella, that are now being reviewed by the Brooklyn district attorneyâs office. The review was prompted by revelations that Mr. Scarcella sometimes engaged in questionable tactics, and may have helped frame an innocent man in another case.  Mr. Ivory was interviewed in recent weeks, first by a pair of detectives and then by an assistant district attorney, he said in a telephone interview. He told them he was lying nearly 20 years ago when he said he could identify the man who shot his cousin, a little girl who was struck by a stray bullet in a case that caused considerable public outrage.  Mr. Ivoryâs account is just one facet of the broad investigation into Mr. Scarcellaâs cases that was announced nearly five months ago by the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes. Going back decades, and covering yearsâ worth of convictions, it is a highly unusual re-examining of the work of a detective who, at the time, was among the most productive in New York City. And while Mr. Ivory says he was interviewed, lawyers for other defendants, as well as some of those convicted, said the review appeared to be moving in fits and starts.  âProgress has been very slow,â said Pierre Sussman, a civil rights lawyer who represents four people whose cases were investigated by the detective. âIn the meantime, I have live human beings in maximum-security facilities for crimes they did not commit.â  Lawyers are hopeful that the challenges of time, fading memories and the deaths of many witnesses can be overcome in the wake of Mr. Hynesâs surprise loss in the Democratic primary election last month. (Mr. Hynes has said he will not run in the general election as a Republican.)  Many people involved in the cases were skeptical of Mr. Hynesâs review efforts, because most of the convictions took place under his watch, and they now believe that the man who beat him, Kenneth P. Thompson, may be more willing to exonerate people if they were convicted on flimsy evidence.  A spokesman for Mr. Thompson said he would not comment on the Scarcella investigation until he had taken office in January and read the case files.  The files will include the case in which Mr. Ivory testified: the 1995 death of his 4-year-old cousin, Shamone Johnson, who skated into a barrage of bullets that was meant for a local gang at the Prospect Plaza housing project in Brooklyn. The investigators who visited Mr. Ivory in the last few weeks wanted to know if he stood by information he gave when he identified a man accused of the shooting. At the time, Mr. Ivory said he recognized a photograph of the suspect.  Now Mr. Ivory, 40, says that was not true. âI didnât recognize anyone,â Mr. Ivory told The New York Times in a telephone interview from Eastern Correctional Facility, a prison in Ulster County where he is serving time in an unrelated homicide. âThe cops would say the number out loud and say, âTake a good look at it,â so I went with it. I thought they knew what they were doing. And I figured if it wasnât him, he could beat it at trial.â  Mr. Ivory said the prosecutor who visited him in prison several weeks ago casually mentioned that he could face perjury charges if he changed the story he had testified to be true.  Records show that it was not Mr. Scarcella who presented the photographs to Mr. Ivory. His role in the case involved obtaining the confession, which the defendant, Sundhe Moses, said he signed only because the detective had become physically abusive. When it came time to testify in court, Mr. Ivory ultimately did not identify Mr. Moses, but the jury, apparently persuaded by the confession, voted to convict.  Mr. Moses was sentenced to 16 years to life for Shamoneâs death.  âI feel bad,â Mr. Ivory said. âI wouldnât want somebody to be in jail for something they didnât do.â  Mr. Hynes would not comment on the investigation, nor would he reveal which cases are being reviewed. But interviews with lawyers and witnesses involved in many of Mr. Scarcellaâs cases, and who would presumably be central to any review, have provided a general portrait of the investigationâs current status. While some witnesses say they have indeed been contacted, far more say they have not been.
A crucial witness said he lied nearly 20 years ago in giving evidence for a conviction handled by the former detective Louis Scarcella, whose cases and tactics are now being scrutinized.