The Legal Aid Society, The Exoneration Project and other local Defender organizations, in a recently issued letter, called on n New York City’s District Attorneys to vacate convictions in cases where the purported evidence of guilt was obtained or produced by 22 corrupt former and active New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers, reports Gothamist/WNYC.

This call comes after the District Attorneys in New York, Kings and the Bronx counties vacated or announced plans to vacate convictions in cases that rested largely on the account of former NYPD Detective Joseph E. Franco, who is currently facing perjury charges in Manhattan for framing innocent New Yorkers.

The letter states:

Criminal convictions cannot rest on testimony or evidence allegedly obtained or produced by law enforcement officers engaged in misconduct connected to their duties and privileges as police officers, particularly when that misconduct goes directly to their credibility or their willingness to abuse power…We urge you to immediately take steps to identify and remedy all convictions caused by law enforcement officers convicted of crimes relating to their duties or who are otherwise incredible or unreliable.

“Detective Franco’s actions are simply unconscionable, but he is by no means the only corrupt NYPD officer who has engaged in such egregious behavior for personal gain at the expense of our clients. Our local DAs are well aware of these 22 officers and their misconduct,” said Liz Felber, Supervising Attorney of the Wrongful Conviction Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “Prosecutors have a legal and moral obligation to right these injustices.”