🧾 The Gutter Report: Vacated, Reinstated — How New York Took Back a Man’s Freedom
How a vacated conviction was revived — and what Samuel “Baby Sam” Edmondson’s case reveals about justice in New York
Brooklyn, New York — For more than three decades, Samuel “Baby Sam” Edmondson lived inside a prison sentence built on testimony that would later collapse under scrutiny.
In 2022, a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge vacated that conviction after an evidentiary hearing exposed unreliable witnesses, suppressed evidence, and investigative misconduct tied to NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella. The court acknowledged what Baby Sam had maintained since the beginning: the trial was not fair.
He walked free after 33 years.
Three years later, New York State reached back and reclaimed that freedom — reinstating part of the same conviction without a new trial.
This Gutter Report documents Baby Sam’s case in his own words, the evidence courts acknowledged on record, and what his experience reveals about appellate power, prosecutorial accountability, and crack-era convictions that continue to stand.
🎙️ Listen: Vacated, Reinstated — How New York Took Back a Man’s Freedom: The Story of Baby Sam
The full, unfiltered interview with Samuel “Baby Sam” Edmondson is now available.
In this exclusive conversation, Baby Sam speaks directly from inside Green Haven Correctional Facility about:
Having his conviction vacated after 33 years
Rebuilding his life during three years of freedom
Being sent back to prison after the State reinstated the conviction
👉🏾 Listen early here:
Vacated, Reinstated — How New York Took Back a Man’s Freedom: The Story of Baby Sam
⏰ Public release: Wednesday, 12/17 at 7:00 AM
✍🏽 Take Action: Support Baby Sam
After the State of New York reinstated a conviction a court had already vacated, Samuel “Baby Sam” Edmondson is now seeking public accountability.
A public petition is calling for:
• Transparency in cases tied to Detective Louis Scarcella
• Accountability from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office
• A justice system that does not reinstate wrongful convictions without a new trial
👉🏾 Read and sign the petition here:
Justice for Baby Sam – Public Petition
🧠 Before the Headlines: Who Baby Sam Was
⚖️ Samuel “Baby Sam” Edmondson during court proceedings in a case that would later be vacated — before the State of New York reinstated the conviction without a new trial.
Samuel Edmondson was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was named after his father, and because his parents were not married, he was called “Baby Sam,” not “Junior.” Years later, media outlets would turn that childhood nickname into something sinister.
Before his arrest, Baby Sam attempted to enlist in the military — first the Marines, then the Army. When those attempts failed, he enrolled in college, studying business administration.
That path ended after profound loss. Within a single year, he lost two brothers. The grief, combined with poverty and the pressure of protecting his family, led him to leave school behind. He remembers throwing his textbooks onto subway tracks — a final decision that he would not return.
💣 The Crack Era Reality the Courts Rarely Revisit
🕰️ Baby Sam years before his arrest — long before prosecutors, headlines, and a manufactured narrative defined his name.
Baby Sam describes late-1980s New York as a war zone created by policy, not chaos.
Jobs disappeared. Police arrived not to protect, but to arrest. Entire neighborhoods became targets of aggressive policing strategies designed to close cases quickly — often by any means necessary.
According to Baby Sam, the government didn’t drop bombs with explosives. It dropped them with indictments, coerced testimony, and manufactured narratives.
🏷️ A Case Built on Fictional Structure
At trial, prosecutors presented Baby Sam as the head of a criminal enterprise, complete with charts assigning titles like “Commander in Chief,” “Chief of Security,” and “Lieutenant.”
Baby Sam says he had never heard of those roles before seeing them in court.
The structure did not reflect reality. It reflected a story the prosecution needed jurors to believe.
🚗 The Getaway Car That Couldn’t Move
One of the most damaging facts in Baby Sam’s case was buried inside the record.
Prosecutors claimed he used his black Maserati as a getaway car during a murder. Police records later showed the vehicle was sitting in police impound at the time of the crime.
That report was quietly moved into evidence at the end of trial — never argued, never highlighted, never meaningfully considered by the jury.
Had it been, the case should have collapsed.
This detail — and the broader history of the prosecution — is examined further in
Baby Sam: The Conviction Brooklyn Couldn’t Let Die.
🧑🏽⚖️ Witnesses Who Lied — And the Truth That Was Hidden
Baby Sam was convicted based on testimony from witnesses who later admitted under oath that they lied.
One key witness falsely testified before the grand jury about two murders. At trial, prosecutors questioned him only about one, avoiding the second entirely.
It was only during cross-examination that the truth surfaced: the witness admitted he fabricated his testimony.
Years later, Baby Sam learned how the witness knew details he couldn’t have known — information fed to him by Detective Louis Scarcella.
🕵🏻♂️ The Scarcella Pattern
Scarcella arrested Baby Sam.
At later proceedings, Scarcella claimed he had no involvement in the case — then claimed he did not recall arresting him — despite paperwork showing otherwise.
Witnesses testified that Scarcella documented “positive identifications” in police reports even when witnesses said they were uncertain. In at least one instance, an eyewitness identified someone else entirely — information never disclosed to the defense.
The broader scope of Scarcella’s misconduct across Brooklyn is detailed in
Louis Scarcella: The NYPD Detective Who Built a Generation of Wrongful Convictions.
🏥 A Dying Detective and a Tainted Hearing
At the 2022 evidentiary hearing, Detective Joseph Ponzi testified from a hospital room while undergoing cancer treatment.
Before his testimony began, technicians noticed someone else in the room.
It was Louis Scarcella.
The judge ordered Scarcella removed immediately, recognizing the impropriety. Baby Sam says the reason was obvious: to align stories before testimony.
⚖️ 2022: The Conviction Vacated
After reviewing recantations, fabricated reports, and suppressed evidence, the court ruled:
Prosecution witnesses were unreliable and unworthy of belief
The conviction was tainted
Baby Sam deserved a new trial
He walked free after 33 years.
🔄 Freedom Reinstated — Not Justice
Instead of retrying the case or dismissing it, the Brooklyn DA’s Office appealed.
The appellate court reinstated one of the two wrongful convictions, overturning the trial court’s credibility findings — despite never hearing live testimony or observing witness demeanor.
Baby Sam never received a new trial.
He turned himself back into custody.
💔 The Human Cost
🕯️ Baby Sam at his family’s gravesite — honoring the loved ones he lost while fighting to clear his name during more than three decades of incarceration.
Baby Sam’s mother died believing her son was innocent. He promised her he would find his way out.
His sister — who paid for an investigator — died the day before his release.
His daughter grew up visiting him behind glass. His granddaughter believes he is in Florida.
She follows the weather where she thinks he lives.
📣 What This Case Represents
Baby Sam believes his case exposes a larger truth:
Crack-era convictions remain intact despite proven misconduct
Appellate courts protect outcomes over justice
Prosecutors avoid accountability even when wrongdoing is established
He calls on Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez to choose transparency over institutional loyalty.
🛑 What Comes Next
Baby Sam’s petition has drawn hundreds of supporters calling for accountability and transparency.
He is asking for:
A full review of Scarcella-linked cases
Accountability from prosecutors involved
A justice system that does not reclaim wrongful convictions once exposed
👉🏾 The petition remains open here:
Justice for Baby Sam – Public Petition
He says his faith keeps him standing — even now.
Not for clicks — for clarity.
— Elliott Carterr, LFTG Radio
📱 TikTok: @elliott_carterr
📺 YouTube: @lftgradio
🌐 Website: LFTGRadio.com
