A judge has dismissed the final cases connected to a former NYPD detective who was accused of lying about witnessing drug transactions, the Bronx district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Martin on Wednesday granted prosecution and defense requests to dismiss 67 cases tied to former NYPD Detective Joseph Franco, the DA’s office said in a news release.
The cases, brought against defendants charged between 2011 and 2015, were the last of 324 Bronx cases connected to Franco that have now been dismissed, the release said. Franco worked as an undercover narcotics detective in the borough during those years, according to the release.
The release said 33 of the convictions were for fourth-degree criminal facilitation; 24 were for seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; nine were for marijuana offenses that are no longer considered crimes; and one was for second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.
“This is Justice with Integrity. After the detective was fired by the NYPD in April 2020, my Conviction Integrity Bureau did an exhaustive review of Bronx cases hinging on the former detective’s testimony and sworn statements,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. “Prosecutors had relied on evidence from someone with compromised credibility, and the District Attorney cannot stand behind these convictions.”
Franco was indicted on charges including perjury and official misconduct in April 2019 after he was accused of lying during court proceedings and on court documents related to three drug cases, the Manhattan district attorney’s office previously said.
In January, a judge dismissed and sealed the case against Franco, with the New York Times reporting that prosecutor’s in the Manhattan DA’s office “failed on three occasions to hand over evidence” to the former NYPD detective’s attorneys.