A Brooklyn man who claims he was wrongfully convicted for the 1995 murder of a 4-year-old girl not only had no part in the fatal shooting — he wasn’t even present at the scene that night, his childhood friend testified Monday.
Terrence Morgan told the court he knew his pal Sundhe Moses couldn’t have fired the stray shots that killed little Shamone Johnson in August 1995 — because Morgan himself was there to “shoot up” the benches outside the Brownsville projects, as were others, but not Moses.
“I waited a few minutes, then pulled out a gun to shoot the people on the benches,” Morgan told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo during Moses’ wrongful conviction hearing. “I shot myself in the leg, and continued shooting.”
Morgan was convicted in 1995 of Criminal Possession of a Weapon for the shooting, but acquitted of related murder and assault charges and served five years of his 5 to 15 sentence.
Moses–who spent 18 years behind bars for the murder before he was released on parole in 2013– has previously claimed that scandal-scarred ex-NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella beat him into confessing, which led to his 1997 conviction for the killing.
“I feel like he was railroaded,” Morgan said of Moses.
Both men were just 19 when Morgan said he was driven to 1750 Prospect Place and “instructed” to “shoot up the benches” in retaliation for another man’s murder.
“At any point was Sundhe Moses present at the scene of the shooting?” Moses’ attorney Leah Busby, asked Morgan.
“No ma’am,” he replied firmly.
Under questioning by prosecutor Bernarda Villalona, Morgan also denied firing the bullet that killed the little girl.
Morgan said he was accompanied that day by a man named “JuJu,” whose real name he didn’t know, who was also unloading his weapon in the veranda as bystanders fled the scene.
He later realized his old friend, Moses, had been charged with the child’s murder, but only told his lawyer because he was scared he’d get hit with a murder rap too.
Moses’ case first came under review in 2013, when the Brooklyn DA’s Conviction Review Unit began looking into 50 cases handled by NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella, amidst allegations of misconduct.
“I want to tell the truth, so [Moses] can be free from all this,” Morgan said Monday. “This case has been going on for a long time, and I want to get him his just due.”
Morgan told the court he was “slapped around” and “thrown to the floor,” but did not claim that he was mishandled by the now scandal-scarred detective.
So far, six of Scarcella’s cases have been overturned.
Hearings will continue Tuesday.
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