{"active":false,"first_name":"Stephen","last_name":"Chmil","race":"White","gender":"Male","rank":"DT1","command":{"command":"DB BNHM","id":"354"},"shield_no":1806,"taxid":"865340","complaint_ids":[9701312,8000265,7902630,7400784],"appt_date":"1971-01-15","lawsuits":[{"name":"Malik, Thomas vs The City of Ny, et al.","start_date":"2024-01-11","disposition_date":"2024-07-11","payout_amount":16250000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"23CV09070","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","summary":"On or about December 14, 1995, Thomas Malik (then age 18) was arrested and interrogated by Officer Louis Scarcella (ret.) and Officer Stephen Chmil (ret.) for over four hours about the murder of Harry Kaufman, a subway toll collector in Brooklyn.  During the interrogation, Malik was cursed at, physically abused, shown a copy of another falsified confession by a man who would become his co-defendant, and threatened, until he signed a written confession that had been prepared by Officer Scarcella.  Malik was charged with the robbery and murder.  He was tried alongside 17-year-old Vincent Ellerbe, who was also charged with the crimes after a similar interrogation that resulted in Ellerbe signing a falsified confession.  Malik was convicted on November 27, 1996 (as was Ellerbe) and on December 27, 1996, he was sentenced to the maximum term of 25 years to life.  His conviction was affirmed on appeal in 1999.  \n\nOn or about February 2013, Malik's counsel obtained a copy of an injunction issued against Rayquan Shabazz - whose testimony was elicited to convict Malik - that prohibited Shabazz from ever cooperating with law enforcement again without going through a Special Master, in light of Shabazz's history of fabrication.  Malik's counsel forwarded the injunction to King's County District Attorney's Office (the \"KCDA\") Homicide Bureau Chief Ken Taub, and the KCDA's Conviction Review Unit (the \"CRU\") began a nine-year investigation into Malik's case.  The KCDA CRU found that there was \"no reliable evidence\" of Malik's guilt, or of the guilt of any of the three men convicted in the murder.  On July 15, 2023, the KCDA and Malik's defense moved to vacate Malik's conviction and dismiss the indictment.  The motion was granted, and Malik was released from prison after spending 27 years behind bars.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.507197/gov.uscourts.nyed.507197.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68077098/malik-v-the-city-of-new-york/"},{"name":"Irons, James vs Scarcella, Louis Et, Al","start_date":"2023-10-13","disposition_date":"2024-07-11","payout_amount":16250000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"23CV07633","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","summary":"In December 1995, NYPD arrested Plaintiff was arrested for murder. Plaintiff, who has cognitive defects, was questioned by Defendant NYPD Officers Paul, Scarcella, and Chmil, was not informed of his Miranda rights until an hour into the interrogation, was fed key details by Defendants, and was struck by Defendants, until Plaintiff signed a false confession. Defendants then coached Plaintiff to give a taped confession by feeding him further details and answer yes and no questions, resulting in two confessions that were contradictory. Defendant Scarcella, Chmil, and Paul coerced Plaintiff to falsely confess to the murder. Defendants Scarcella, Chmil and Paul also failed to investigate other suspects and violated Brady in withholding exculpatory evidence of another suspect who confessed to the crime that would have prevented Plaintiff's wrongful conviction. \n\nOn July 15, 2022, 26 years after Plaintiff's wrongful conviction, filed a motion to vacate his judgment on grounds of newly discovered evidence including evidence that Plaintiff's confession was unreliable and coerced. The motion was granted. \nA Report over the NYPD and Kings County District Attorney's Office revealed that during the time of Plaintiff's arrest and conviction there were serious falsification and Brady violations. Defendant Scarcella has had 20 convictions overrturned, at least 8 of those from coerced false confessions. Chmil repeatedly used unreliable witnesses to convict defendants and partners with Scarcella. Defendant Hynes former DA of Kings County District Attorneys office had in place no policies to discipline prosecutors for Brady violations and had in place polices and practices to encourage Brady violations. \n\nAs a result of Defendants' misconduct Plaintiff was deprived of his constitutional rights including his right to Due Process. Plaintiff suffered for 27 years serving a sentence for a crime of which he was innocent, during which time he suffered physical assault, psychological abuse, extreme degradation and pain and suffering.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.504371/gov.uscourts.nyed.504371.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67877989/irons-v-scarcella/"},{"name":"Williams, Shawn vs Scarcella, Louis, et al.","start_date":"2020-06-12","disposition_date":"2022-05-12","payout_amount":10500000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"20CV02348","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","officer_name":"Chmil, Stephen W.","summary":"On July 13, 2018, Plaintiff’s 1994 conviction for murder was vacated, after he served 24 years in prison. The conviction was based on a single eye witness who later recanted her testimony and asserts that she testified falsely due to coercion by former NYPD detectives Louis Scarcella, Stephen Chmil, and Lewis Bond. NYPD officers came to the witness’s home, arrested and imprisoned her, and transported her from Georgia to New York to testify. The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Ogistem knew of this activity. \n\nPlaintiff filed a motion to vacate his conviction based on grounds of actual innocence, newly discovered evidence, and violation of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, including Brady violations. The DA’s office ultimately dropped its opposition to the motion.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.448426/gov.uscourts.nyed.448426.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17194130/williams-v-scarcella/"},{"name":"Bunn, John vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2019-09-05","disposition_date":"2020-12-16","payout_amount":5900000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"19CV04667","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","officer_name":"Chmil, Stephen W.","summary":"On August 13, 1991, two NY corrections officers were shot at by two perpetrators and one died from his injuries. Detectives Louis Scarcella, Stephen Chmil, and John Barba wrongly identified 14-year old Defendant Bunn and his Co-Defendant as the perpetrators, despite there being no placement of them at the scene, no evidence of their involvement, and no connection between their appearance and the witness descriptions. The detectives, in an effort to close the case, created a pretextual reason for arrest, made false stories about the defendants, influenced the victim to identify the defendants out of a lineup, and used aggressive interrogation techniques against Defendant. \nDespite these issues and complete reliance on the trial testimony of the unreliable victim, Bunn was convicted for second degree murder and first degree assault on November 24, 1992 and was later sentenced to 9 years to life, a reduced sentence from 22 years to life due to his juvenile status. Bunn’s conviction was one of many wrongful convictions with attached constitutional violations that occurred in New York City and Kings County.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.437381/gov.uscourts.nyed.437381.12.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16054087/bunn-v-city-of-new-york/"},{"name":"Ranta, Patricia, et al. vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2014-06-25","disposition_date":"2024-08-23","payout_amount":1500000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"14CV03794","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","officer_name":"Chmil, Stephen W.","summary":"On February 8, 1990, an attempted robbery gone wrong resulted in the murder of 56-year old Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, and the family of Plaintiff David Ranta brought suit over the alleged manufacturing of evidence in pinning the murder on Ranta in an abuse of process and malicious prosecution scenario. Detectives Louis Scarcely and Stephen Chmil are the two detectives alleged to have manufactured the evidence through actions such as coaching witnesses.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.357727/gov.uscourts.nyed.357727.42.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4323464/ranta-v-city-of-new-york/"}],"news":[{"title":"Jailed Unjustly in the Death of a Rabbi, Man Nears Freedom","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/nyregion/brooklyn-prosecutor-to-seek-freedom-of-man-convicted-in-1990-killing-of-rabbi.html","source":"New York Times","date":"2013-03-20"}],"id":"3CKJ","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/3CKJ"}