Abaca Press
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 08:35
Two men convicted of murder in America have been acquitted by a New York court. The pair were jailed for murder, but after a new review by the judge, their convictions were expunged. The cases involved inadequate witness statements and procedural errors. The two murder cases are not related.
These are Jabar Walker and Wayne Gardine, both 49 years old. Gardine was convicted of a murder in 1994. 22-year-old Robert Mickens was shot twelve times in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. The only evidence that Gardine was the perpetrator was a statement from a drug dealer who changed his story several times.
Nine months later, another murder occurred in the same neighborhood. Two men were shot in a parked car. Jabar Walker was convicted of this because a witness said he heard Walker shouting. Later that witness changed his mind, but Walker remained in custody for the double murder.
Research by the non-profit organization Innocence Project showed that the police had failed. For example, no report was written and evidence that was “useful to the suspect” was not documented, it writes CBS News.
Wrongful convictions
Since 1989, at least 115 convictions have been overturned in New York. According to the The New York Times many cases concern African Americans or Americans of Latin American descent. Walker and Gardine were arrested during the height of the crack war in Harlem. Police corruption was common at that time.
Organizations such as Innocence Project and the Post-Conviction Justice Unit are working to free wrongly convicted prisoners from that era. This has now been achieved with Gardine and Walker.
Walker was released Monday after the hearing. Images in American media show him throwing his arms in the air with joy outside the court. Gardine was also released on Monday, but he was detained again by the immigration authorities. He may be sent to his native Jamaica because he is said to be in America illegally.
2023-11-28 07:35:11
#American #men #acquitted #murder #decades #prison
