Tag:

Wrongful Conviction

Drexel Hill-Upper Darby, PA
Police & Fire
Philadelphia Detective Who Beat False Murder Confession Out Of Innocent Man Sentenced Philadelphia Detective Who Beat False Murder Confession Out Of Innocent Man Sentenced
Philadelphia Detective Who Beat False Murder Confession Out Of Innocent Man Sentenced A former Philadelphia homicide detective has been sentenced to up to 64 months in prison for assaulting a suspect into falsely confessing to murder, then lying about it in court, authorities announced. James Pitts, 55, was sentenced to 32 to 64 months in a Pennsylvania state correctional facility after being convicted of two felony counts of perjury and three counts of obstructing administration of law, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office confirmed on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Pitts was found guilty in July 2024 for his violent 2010 interrogation of Obina Onyiah, who ultimately …

SHARE

by Jillian Pikora
Greenburgh, NY
News
Support Swells For Vietnam Vet Exonerated Of 1975 Rape In Greenburgh Support Swells For Vietnam Vet Exonerated Of 1975 Rape In Greenburgh
Support Swells For Vietnam Vet Exonerated Of 1975 Rape In Greenburgh Nearly half a century after a 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran was wrongfully convicted of rape that he was found to have not committed, community members are coming together to help him rebuild his life.  South Carolina resident Leonard Mack, age 72, has been exonerated of a 1975 rape in Greenburgh that he was convicted of in 1976, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday, Sept. 5.  Earlier Report: New DNA Evidence Exonerates Man Of Rape In Greenburgh: DA Seeks To Vacate Conviction Following his wrongful conviction, Mack served a sentence of ove…

SHARE

by Ben Crnic
Greenburgh, NY
News
New DNA Evidence Exonerates Man Of Rape In Greenburgh: DA Seeks To Vacate Conviction New DNA Evidence Exonerates Man Of Rape In Greenburgh: DA Seeks To Vacate Conviction
New DNA Evidence Exonerates Man Of Rape In Greenburgh: DA Seeks To Vacate Conviction DA officials are asking the court to vacate the conviction of a 72-year-old man who served numerous years in prison for a 1975 rape in Westchester that he was found to have not committed thanks to new DNA evidence.  The Westchester County District Attorney's Office will ask the court to vacate the conviction of South Carolina resident Leonard Mack, age 72, who spent over seven years in prison for a 1975 rape in Greenburgh, DA officials announced on Tuesday, Sept. 5.  At the time of the rape, on May 23, 1975, Mack had been accused of forcing two high school students at gunpoint int…

SHARE

by Ben Crnic
Gettysburg, PA
News
Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender
Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender Nearly 35 years after then-24-year-old Christopher Joseph Larry Speelman raped and murdered his 85-year-old relative, he has finally been sentenced— but he's not a sex offender, according to the court.  Now, 59, Speelman has been sentenced to spend the next 25 to 50 years in prison by Judge Thomas Campbell after pleading guilty to murder in the third degree, burglary, and a no contest to rape, according to Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett. Speelman confessed raping and then smothering Edna Laughman with a pillow at her home in the 1500 block of Carlisle Pike, Oxford Townsh…

SHARE

by Jillian Pikora
Towson, MD
News
Adnan Syed Conviction Reinstated By Maryland Court Adnan Syed Conviction Reinstated By Maryland Court
Adnan Syed Conviction Reinstated By Maryland Court The Appellate Court of Maryland has reinstated Adnan Syed's conviction after he made national headlines for being cleared of a murder charge he served over two decades in prison for. The court determined that the family of Hae Min Lee, Syed's high school girlfriend, was not given enough notice to attend a hearing on the state's motion to vacate Syed's conviction. Syed had been convicted of the murder of Lee over 23 years ago and has always maintained his innocence. His case garnered national attention after the hit true-crime podcast "Serial" featured his story several years ago. Syed was …

SHARE

by Annie DeVoe
Drexel Hill-Upper Darby, PA
Police & Fire
Philadelphia Man Freed From Life Sentence, Witness Bribed With Sex For Lies Philadelphia Man Freed From Life Sentence, Witness Bribed With Sex For Lies
Philadelphia Man Freed From Life Sentence, Witness Bribed With Sex For Lies A Philadelphia inmate who served 37 years in state prison walked out of the facility a free man on Tuesday after a federal court tossed his 1984 murder conviction. Willie Stokes, 61, was sentenced to life behind bars after police bribed a witness in his case -- Franklin Lee with -- sex, drugs, and a light sentence in exchange for false testimony in the 1980 case, officials said. A hug from his mom and a corned beef hoagie were what he looked forward to getting most, the Associated Press reports. Lee was being held on unrelated rape and murder charges at the time, and said he "felt weak and …

SHARE

by Nicole Acosta
Chappaqua, NY
News
$12M DiPippo Rape, Murder Case Settlement Decision 'Foolish, Uninformed,' DA Says $12M DiPippo Rape, Murder Case Settlement Decision 'Foolish, Uninformed,' DA Says
$12M DiPippo Rape, Murder Case Settlement Decision 'Foolish, Uninformed,' DA Says Anthony DiPippo, who was twice convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl before being found not guilty during his third trial, has settled with Putnam County for $12 million, much to the chagrin of District Attorney Robert Tendy. After being convicted of raping and murdering Josette Wright at two separate trials, DiPippo was acquitted in 2016 after two decades behind bars, walking away scot-free. DiPippo was alleged to have killed Wright with his friend Andrew Krivak, who remains in prison following his conviction in 1997, though he too has been granted a new trial last year. Kr…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Fairfield, CT
News
Sex Offender Serving Life Sentence For Killing Two Teen Girls Dies In State Prison Sex Offender Serving Life Sentence For Killing Two Teen Girls Dies In State Prison
Sex Offender Serving Life Sentence For Killing Two Teen Girls Dies In State Prison A man serving a life sentence for the brutal murders of two teenagers in the 1980s died Wednesday in prison. Pedro Miranda, 61, died in the hospice unit at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, said state Department of Corrections Spokesman Andrius Banevicius. Miranda was charged with the murders of Mayra Cruz, 13, and 17-year-old Carmen Lopez following an Innocence Project investigation in 2008 and DNA evidence matched evidence found at the crime scenes. Cruz went missing in Hartford in 1987 when she did not come home from school. Her body was found a month later in a wo…

SHARE

by Kathy Reakes
Hackensack, NJ
News
New Evidence Could Free North Jersey Man's Accused Killer From Lifetime In Prison New Evidence Could Free North Jersey Man's Accused Killer From Lifetime In Prison
New Evidence Could Free North Jersey Man's Accused Killer From Lifetime In Prison New evidence suggesting that the suspected killer of a Teaneck man was framed could set him free from a lifetime in prison -- that is, if the judge will even consider the testimony. In 2006, Afrim Tairi and two others were convicted of the fatal beating of Howard Lewis, co-owner of Paterson's Sealy Mattress Co. Four years later, Tairi was sentenced to life in prison. Tairi's co-defendants recently told a "jailhouse lawyer" that he never actually killed Lewis -- he was framed, NJ.com reports. Tairi's lawyers are fighting to toss the conviction and get him a new trial. Secondhand c…

SHARE

by Cecilia Levine