Family Of Man Wrongly Convicted In 1992 Triple Homicide Suing NYC
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The family of a man who spent over 20 years behind bars for three murders he didn't commit is suing New York City.
Sharrif Wilson died this year, less than a year after his release.
His sister, Tiffany Wilson, and mother, Gloria Wilson, are filing the lawsuit for damages.
Family Of Man Wrongly Convicted Of 1992 Triple Homicide Suing NYC
"I try smiling every day knowing that inside it hurts, I have moments where at night I just break down," Wilson's mother said Thursday. "It's just hard. Nobody knows the pain that I'm going through."
Sharrif Wilson was 15 years old when he and a friend, 18-year-old Anthony Yarbough, were arrested for the 1992 murders of Yarbough's mother, 12-year-old sister and family friend in a Coney Island housing project.
In 2013, a judge threw out their convictions based on new DNA evidence.
Family Of Man Wrongly Convicted Of 1992 Triple Homicide Suing NYC
Wilson weighed more than 400 pounds when he was released, and died 11 months later in January 2015 at age 38 of breathing-related problems.
"He was eating only because he was depressed," his mother said. "He'd pretend to be happy but I knew inside he wasn't."
"There so much he wanted to do with his family," his sister said. "We don't have that anymore."
Attorney Emma Freudenberger, from Neufeld, Scheck and Brustin, LLP, said Wilson was the victim of police misconduct and bias because he was gay. She claims detectives exploited a vulnerable and innocent young man.
"A 15-year-old kid, who hadn't slept for over 24 hours, who wasn't fully out to his family and they tortured and coerced a confession out of him," Freudenberger said.
The goal of the lawsuit is to expose the police misconduct that cost Wilson his freedom and his life, Freudenberger said.
"There's no reason that police are different from anybody else and it's an accountability problem," Freudenberger said.
The city Law Department tells The New York Times the case is under review.
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