A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the 1992 conviction of a Philadelphia man she said had been unjustly sentenced to die for a murder he probably did not commit. In a scathing ruling, Judge Anita B. Brody said city police and prosecutors ignored, lost, or "covered up" evidence that James Dennis was not the man who fatally shot a high school student for her gold earrings near the Fern Rock SEPTA station in 1991.
"The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has committed a grave miscarriage of justice," Brody concluded in her 40-page opinion. She ordered the state to retry Dennis within six months or set him free. District Attorney Seth Williams said his office had not decided whether it would appeal. He said he was disappointed in what he called the judge's "acceptance of slanted factual allegations" and "a newly concocted alibi defense" that he contended was a lie.
The ruling marked a stunning turn in the 20-year legal battle over Dennis, whose cause drew supporters worldwide even as he lost appeal after appeal. One of his lawyers, Ryan Guilds, said Dennis, 42, broke down when he received the news in a phone call Wednesday at the state prison in Waynesburg, in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, where he has been on death row for two decades.
Source: Philly.com, August 21, 2013
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