Philadelphia Man Released After 44 Years in Prison May Face New Trial
US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. Track elected officials, research health conditions, and find news you can use in politics, business, health, and education. Philadelphia man, Richard Franklin, who was convicted in 1980 of using tainted testimony to frame innocent Black men, may face a new trial after his conviction was overturned after the lone eyewitness against him recanted. This case is part of a larger trend of such cases exposed by District Attorney Larry Krasner, who has exonerated 43 wrongfully convicted prisoners - 38 of whom are Black, three Latino, and two white. The District Attorney's Office declined to comment on Franklin's case or any potential rights violations. Matthew Barry Johnson, a professor at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that the practice of granting leniency to criminal suspects in exchange for testifying against others has long been a staple of the U.S. justice system and often abused.
Published : a month ago by Reuters in World
His 1980 conviction based on tainted testimony was overturned after the lone eyewitness against him recanted. His conviction dates to a high-crime era when police and prosecutors were so intent to sew up unsolved homicides that they coerced vulnerable witnesses to fabricate stories and frame innocent Black men.
Many such cases have been exposed by District Attorney Larry Krasner, a former defense attorney, since he was elected in Philadelphia in November 2017. Krasner's office has exonerated 43 wrongfully convicted prisoners - 38 of them Black, three Latino and two white. But Krasner's office has so far told the court it will seek a new trial for Franklin.
A spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office declined to comment on Franklin's case or any possible rights violations of the past, referring Reuters to the Franklin case court filings in which it stands by the original testimony since recanted. Philadelphia police did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Franklin, 77, has been confined to his North Philadelphia home since his release from prison on March 5. Flashing a ready smile, he said in an interview before Friday's hearing that he was able to maintain calm because of his Muslim faith and support from family.
"They won't let me go astray," Franklin said. "I'm in a good place. Don't think I don't feel it, though. But I'm not going to get out there and rant and rave. That's just not me."
Philadelphia's criminal justice system became known for "testilying," an insider's term made prominent by the Philadelphia Inquirer's investigative reporting, in which police and prosecutors manipulated witnesses into framing the innocent, then leveraged their commissions of perjury or other crimes to force them to stand by their stories.
Matthew Barry Johnson, a professor at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the practice of granting leniency to criminal suspects in exchange for testifying against others has long been a staple of the U.S. justice system - and quite often abused.
Franklin and his co-defendant Tillery were convicted of the 1976 poolroom shooting that killed Joseph Hollis and wounded John Pickens. Franklin said he had frequented the poolroom before but was not there at the time of the shooting.
Three and a half years passed without an arrest until police picked up Franklin based on the statement of Emmanuel Claitt, who would later tell the trial court that he saw Tillery kill Hollis and Franklin wound Pickens.
But Claitt, who was in prison with several open cases against him when he first implicated Franklin and Tillery, told an investigator for Tillery in a 2016 videotaped statement that he lied at trial and was never at the poolroom. Police allowed him to use an interview room and hotels for sex with his girlfriends in exchange for the fabricated story, he said.
"If right is right, right will prevail because the DA knows that they lied and they got me to lie," Claitt said on the video. "And I want to free my conscience. I can't live with myself knowing I did that."
"There are so many guys sitting in state prison in Pennsylvania on homicide charges of the 80s and 90s," Marrone said, calling the number of victims unknown. "We get calls every day. So there could be 50. We don't know."
Topics: Crime