The Issue: David Ranta, who was released from jail after his murder conviction was thrown out.
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How do we make up for putting an innocent man in prison for 23 years (“‘Sir, You Are Free To Go’ — And Wrong Man Rejoices,” March 22)?
I say $2 million per year of incarceration. A tax-free check from New York City to David Ranta for $46 million would be a good start.
What if this had happened in Texas, which executes people the way NYC hands out parking summonses? You can’t give a check to a dead man.
Bill King
Elizabeth, NJ
Ranta’s conviction for the 1990 murder of a Brooklyn Orthodox rabbi may be vacated, but he will not get back the many years he spent in prison.
This miscarriage of justice is yet more evidence of the treatment that the bloc-voting Orthodox community has enjoyed over the years.
Does anyone imagine that the other murders in the city in 1990 compelled the mayor’s office to get involved and the district attorney to visit the precinct house in question?
Should it come as a shock that the DA was none other than Charles Hynes, who has pandered shamelessly to the Orthodox bloc in Brooklyn his entire career?
The community demanded justice, and Ranta, a mere house painter with a record, was the perfect scapegoat. What a travesty this rush to justice was.
Martin Brahms
Brooklyn