What you should know
- A man convicted of a 2015 murder in western New York has been freed and his charge dismissed solely because he was held in the wrong prison under an interstate detainee law, a state judge ruled.
- Terrence Lewis was released earlier this month from a maximum-security prison in Seneca County, where he was serving a sentence of 22 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper reported Wednesday. A jury convicted him in 2018 of fatally shooting Johnny Washington, 29, in Rochester.
- The agreement, passed by Congress in 1970, says that a prisoner charged with an unrelated crime in another jurisdiction must be detained and tried in that jurisdiction before being returned to the place of his original incarceration, or else the case in another jurisdiction must be dismissed.
NEW YORK — A man convicted of a 2015 murder in western New York has been freed and his charge dismissed solely because he was held in the wrong prison under an interstate detainee law, a state judge ruled.
Terrence Lewis was released earlier this month from a maximum-security prison in Seneca County, where he was serving a sentence of 22 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper reported Wednesday. A jury convicted him in 2018 of fatally shooting Johnny Washington, 29, in Rochester.
Judge Stephen Miller wrote in a Feb. 5 decision that Monroe County officials violated the federal Interstate Agreement on Detention Law, or IAD, when they sent him back to a federal prison in Pennsylvania, where he was serving a sentence for a drug conviction while awaiting trial in the New York murder case after his indictment.
The agreement, passed by Congress in 1970, says that a prisoner charged with an unrelated crime in another jurisdiction must be detained and tried in that jurisdiction before being returned to the place of his original incarceration, or else the case in another jurisdiction must be dismissed.
“The harsh reality is that even though a jury of 12 members of our community determined, after hearing all of the evidence presented before them, that the defendant is guilty of the murder of Johnny C. Washington, this jail administrative decision is “based on prison population and timing, not the law, unequivocally gives the defendant the right to dismiss murder in the second-degree charge with prejudice under the demanding requirements of the IAD’s anti-shuttle provisions,” Miller wrote .
Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter apologized to Washington’s family and friends and promised to make sure a violation of the detainee agreement never happens again.
“To the family and friends of Mr. Johnny Washington, there are no words to take away the pain that you rightly feel and that undoubtedly arises from the lack of justice that is being served based on this decision, which violates the principles of justice” Baxter said in a statement. “I extend my sincerest apologies.”
A Baxter spokeswoman, Amy Young, said no argument had ever been raised about moving Lewis to a federal prison after the state murder charge.
The sheriff’s office said it reviewed its detainee transfer procedures, provided staff training on transfers and audited any previous transfers that may have involved the interstate agreement dating back to 2018. The audit showed there were no other prisoners whose cases involved the agreement. .
2024-02-14 21:59:50
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