kcchiefs6465
04-12-2014, 10:59 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuDRKmf37Ps
It was the summer of 1989.
Jonathan Fleming and his family left their New York home and headed for Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
On vacation, he accumulated seemingly insignificant things: plane tickets, a few postcards and a hotel receipt for an $81.92 phone bill, which he says he slipped into his pocket.
That receipt was reportedly still in his pocket when police arrested him for the murder of a friend, Darryl “Black” Rush, who was shot to death in Brooklyn on Aug. 15, 1989, in what authorities suggested was a dispute over stolen money.
That receipt was time-stamped about five hours before the shooting, showing he was more than 1,000 miles away at the time.
But that receipt was never given to his attorney and never presented at his trial.
Fleming was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Just a few months shy of a parole hearing, a New York judge on Tuesday vacated Fleming’s conviction after prosecutors determined he was indeed innocent.
After serving 24 years and 8 months in prison for a crime he never committed, Fleming, now 51, walked out of a Brooklyn courtroom.
“The day is finally here. I’ve dreamed about it many nights,” he told reporters. “I’m finally a free man.”
hxxp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/09/another-innocent-man-convicted-of-murder-is-freed-after-25-years-in-prison/?tid=hp_mm
It was the summer of 1989.
Jonathan Fleming and his family left their New York home and headed for Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
On vacation, he accumulated seemingly insignificant things: plane tickets, a few postcards and a hotel receipt for an $81.92 phone bill, which he says he slipped into his pocket.
That receipt was reportedly still in his pocket when police arrested him for the murder of a friend, Darryl “Black” Rush, who was shot to death in Brooklyn on Aug. 15, 1989, in what authorities suggested was a dispute over stolen money.
That receipt was time-stamped about five hours before the shooting, showing he was more than 1,000 miles away at the time.
But that receipt was never given to his attorney and never presented at his trial.
Fleming was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Just a few months shy of a parole hearing, a New York judge on Tuesday vacated Fleming’s conviction after prosecutors determined he was indeed innocent.
After serving 24 years and 8 months in prison for a crime he never committed, Fleming, now 51, walked out of a Brooklyn courtroom.
“The day is finally here. I’ve dreamed about it many nights,” he told reporters. “I’m finally a free man.”
hxxp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/09/another-innocent-man-convicted-of-murder-is-freed-after-25-years-in-prison/?tid=hp_mm