A Connecticut federal judge has referred a former New Haven police detective to federal prosecutors for investigation of witness tampering and perjury during a civil trial, in which jurors awarded a murder exoneree $38 million and determined the detective fabricated evidence of his guilt.

U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala, the judge overseeing the exonerated man's civil suit, said Monday that former detective Vincent Raucci appeared to have tried to intimidate his ex-wife, a witness in the case. According to the judge's order, Raucci sent a Facebook message to his son saying: "TELL YOUR MOTHER IF SHE TALKS ABOUT NARCOTICS THE HOUSE WILL BE TAKEN AWAY ... GOOD LUCK ..."

The detective also perjured himself on the witness stand during the civil trial, the court found.

"Over the course of his trial testimony, a steady stream of increasingly contradictory, incredulous, and — by the end — offensively inconsistent statements came out of defendant Raucci's remarkably fertile imagination," Judge Nagala wrote in her referral order.

Raucci's criminal referral came months after a jury awarded $38 million to felony murder exoneree Stefon Morant, who spent 21 years in prison for two shootings he did not commit.

Morant was released from prison in 2015, according to his civil complaint. The Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles expunged Morant's charges in July 2021, "forever acquitting" him, he said. He sued New Haven and several city employees, including Raucci, in 2022.

In May 2026, jurors found the city engaged in a "widespread practice or custom" of suppressing evidence favorable to criminal defendants, and that Raucci, the lead detective in Morant's case, maliciously prosecuted him for two 1990 murders. They also determined that Raucci fabricated evidence, failed to disclose evidence that suggested Morant's innocence and coerced a January 1991 statement from Morant.

In June 2026, Morant moved for a criminal referral of Raucci. The former detective objected to the referral but did not deny he had sent the Facebook message intended for his ex-wife and given inconsistent testimony at trial, Judge Nagala said.

The judge wrote in her order that a criminal referral for Raucci's perjury was appropriate because his "contradictory and inconsistent statements went to the heart of the issues at trial."

On Tuesday, Morant's attorney, Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann of Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger LLP, told Law360 that consequences for Raucci were long overdue.

"If the New Haven Police Department had not actively interfered with an FBI investigation, Vincent Raucci would have been federally prosecuted 30 years ago," she said. "It would be entirely fitting if he finally faced personal accountability now."

Representatives of Raucci did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Morant is represented by Nick Brustin, Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, Emma Freudenberger, Amelia Green, Elsa Mota, Grace Paras, and Katie Cion of Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger LLP and Kenneth Rosenthal of the Law Office of Kenneth Rosenthal.

Vincent Raucci is represented by James Newhall Tallberg and Kimberly A. Bosse of Karsten & Tallberg LLC and Gregory Cerritelli of the Law Office of Gregory Cerritelli LLC.

The case is Morant v. City of New Haven et al., case number 3:22-cv-00630, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

--Additional reporting by Aaron Keller and Elizabeth Daley. Editing by Covey Son.