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LAS Files Motion To Vacate Conviction For Jason Serrano, Client Ensnared In NYPD Marijuana Planting Scheme

The Legal Aid Society filed a 440 motion today to vacate the conviction of Jason Serrano, a Legal Aid client who accepted a plea in 2018 completely unaware of exculpatory evidence on police body-worn camera footage which later surfaced. This motion comes after Legal Aid discovered additional footage of what appears to be marijuana on the floor of a police cruiser that New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers used in their planting scheme, according to Gothamist.

“What is clear from this additional footage is that Mr. Serrano never committed any crime and that this conviction should be vacated at once,” said the attorney-in-charge of the Staten Island Criminal Defense Practice, Christopher Pisciotta. “What is also clear is that officers like Erickson and Pastran, who commit acts of misconduct that betray public trust, must be removed from the NYPD immediately.”