David Ranta, the man who served 23 years in prison for a Williamsburg rabbi's murder that he did not commit, has been freed. Ranta, 58, was convicted of shooting rabbi Chaskel Werzberger in the head during a botched robbery attempt at a Brooklyn jewelry store in February 1990.
But Ranta has always maintained his innocence, twice appealing the conviction from a trial that lacked any physical evidence. Ranta was a petty criminal before he was arrested for Werzberger's murder, and he was only identified by one witness in the first lineup. That witness, who was thirteen years old at the time, now says he was coached by NYPD detective Louis Scarcella to pick Ranta. Another witness, the jewelry store owner who got a good look at the killer's face, said Ranta was "100 percent not" the man who shot Werzberger, a leader in the neighborhood's Hasidic Satmar community.
A yearlong investigation conducted by the D.A.'s office discovered that two other witnesses had made up stories about seeing Ranta at the scene of the crime, and evidence has come out that Scarcella didn't take notes after interrogating Ranta or jewelry thief Joseph Astin; a few years after the murder, Astin's wife gave sworn statements that her now-deceased husband was the killer. The D.A.'s investigation came to the conclusion that the detectives in charge of the case had mishandled it, and today a Brooklyn judge released Ranta from prison, telling him, "I'm sorry for what you endured."
What Ranta endured was 23 years in a maximum security facility in Buffalo, NY, more than half of the 37-year sentence he was served. "I really don’t know what I’ll do if I get out," he told the Times a few weeks before today's release, after asking for a Moody Blues CD for his Discman. "It’s like a whole new life." Meanwhile, Scarcella says he stands by his evidence. "I never framed anyone in my life," he told the Post. "You have to be a low devil to frame someone. I sleep well at night." Detective Scarcella is now retired from the force.
