David Ranta Freed after Serving 23 Years

David Ranta in 1991

Twenty-three years after the now-58-year-old David Ranta was sentenced to 37 1/2 years to life in the shooting death of prominent Satmar Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office has dismissed the indictment.

Ranta was convicted in 1991 in the high-profile case.  All of his post-conviction appeals were denied.

The Brooklyn DA's Conviction Integrity Unit, established in 2011, reviewed Ranta's case based on an application by Ranta's original defense attorney, Michael Baum, who had newly-discovered information about a key witness ID.

Unit chief John O'Mara said the DA's office joined the defense in a motion to vacate the conviction and dismiss the indictment based on finding that there was insufficient evidence of guilt.

Ranta is the third defendant freed by the Conviction Integrity Unit. Fourteen other convictions remain under review.

In an email blast, rival Democrat Abe George, challenging Brooklyn DA Charlie Hynes to a primary this fall, pointed out that Hynes' office had wrongly convicted both Ranta and William Lopez, jailed for years for murders they didn't commit.

In both cases, George said, Hynes’ office withheld vital evidence that would have exonerated the defendants, then fought for years to keep the men in prison.

A federal judge has barred Hynes from ever retrying Lopez, calling the case “rotten from day one.”

Brooklyn needs a DA, said George, who won't tolerate the kind of misconduct that put Ranta, Lopez, and too many other innocent people behind bars.

As Brooklyn DA, George said, he would strive to get every case right the first time.

The article from the New York Law Journal.

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