A Black carpenter wrongfully convicted in six murders is suing the city of Philadelphia after being acquitted of two murders and exonerated of four. "Chris Williams is the only person in the US to be exonerated of 6 murder convictions after serving 31 yrs in prison, 25 of which he was on death row!" noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump tweeted on Wednesday, when he also announced that a lawsuit was filed on Williams’ behalf in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. Along with the city, defendants include former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, prosecutor David Desiderio, and 17 police detectives, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Crump said during a news conference that Williams “is almost like the symbol for wrongful conviction of Black men in America … We have to be better than this,” the attorney added. “We cannot continue to let racism cloud our judgment when it comes to not even just wrongful convictions but administering justice.”
Joseph Santarone, Desiderio's attorney, declined comment with the newspaper, but Desiderio told the Inquirer in 2020 that the exonerations were "garabage." "A jury believed [White], Desiderio said. "I don't know how they can invade the province of the jury."
Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman exonerated Williams on Feb. 9, 2021 in a case she called "mind-boggling."
A jury convicted Williams as well as Troy Coulston and Theophalis “Bilal” Wilson of killing Otis Reynolds, 22; Gavin Anderson, 19; and Kevin Anderson, Gavin's 17-year-old brother. The victims were shot in the head in what police said were drug-related killings in 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. That same year Michael Haynesworth, 19, was found dead in the backseat of his car, a crime Williams was also convicted of committing. He was sentenced to life in prison as were Wilson and Coulston.
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Their cases depended largely on the testimony of James White, who at the time was facing the death penalty himself in six murders. Journalist Maurice Possley wrote in the National Registry:
She said in court before Wilson was freed last January that "it is time" for him "to be allowed to go home — that he go home a free man, and that he go home with an apology." Her voice trembled, the Inquirer reported. "No words can express what we put these people through," Cummings said. "What we put Mr. Wilson through. What we put his family through.” But while Wilson was allowed to return home, Williams remained in jail still saddled with another wrongful conviction.
“There was some cynicism in me as a human being that one individual could be wrongfully convicted more than once,” Cummings told The Philadelphia Inquirer in February. But she told the newspaper “lightning did strike twice.”
Her unit has exonerated 18 men in three years, and the District Attorney's Office and a Common Pleas Court judge agreed this week to vacate Coulston's conviction, making way for his release, the Inquirer reported.
That doesn’t seem like the rare strike of lightening. That seems like everyday, regular ol’ corruption that has robbed Black families of their loved ones for decades.
“Williams’ conviction was built on a house of cards that began to collapse in 2019 when the Commonwealth opened up its files to the defense,” the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit wrote in court filings the Inquirer obtained. “Once the light was allowed to shine, the Commonwealth was forced to see that the basic structure underpinning the conviction was built on the unscrupulous behavior of several bad actors.”
Crump said during a news conference that Williams “is almost like the symbol for wrongful conviction of Black men in America … We have to be better than this,” the attorney added. “We cannot continue to let racism cloud our judgment when it comes to not even just wrongful convictions but administering justice.”
Joseph Santarone, Desiderio's attorney, declined comment with the newspaper, but Desiderio told the Inquirer in 2020 that the exonerations were "garabage." "A jury believed [White], Desiderio said. "I don't know how they can invade the province of the jury."
Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman exonerated Williams on Feb. 9, 2021 in a case she called "mind-boggling."
A jury convicted Williams as well as Troy Coulston and Theophalis “Bilal” Wilson of killing Otis Reynolds, 22; Gavin Anderson, 19; and Kevin Anderson, Gavin's 17-year-old brother. The victims were shot in the head in what police said were drug-related killings in 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. That same year Michael Haynesworth, 19, was found dead in the backseat of his car, a crime Williams was also convicted of committing. He was sentenced to life in prison as were Wilson and Coulston.
YouTube Video
Their cases depended largely on the testimony of James White, who at the time was facing the death penalty himself in six murders. Journalist Maurice Possley wrote in the National Registry:
Both Williams and Wilson were exonerated after the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office opened its case files, revealing what Patricia Cummings, head of the Conviction Integrity Unit, called a “perfect storm” of injustice in a court filing The Philadelphia Inquirer obtained. “Wilson’s trial was infected by serious prosecutorial misconduct, Brady violations, a critical witness who supplied false testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel," the District Attorney’s Office said in the filing Cummings signed. “For decades and with some frequency, it appears that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office failed to comply with its obligations in regard to Brady," Cummings added.
She said in court before Wilson was freed last January that "it is time" for him "to be allowed to go home — that he go home a free man, and that he go home with an apology." Her voice trembled, the Inquirer reported. "No words can express what we put these people through," Cummings said. "What we put Mr. Wilson through. What we put his family through.” But while Wilson was allowed to return home, Williams remained in jail still saddled with another wrongful conviction.
“There was some cynicism in me as a human being that one individual could be wrongfully convicted more than once,” Cummings told The Philadelphia Inquirer in February. But she told the newspaper “lightning did strike twice.”
Her unit has exonerated 18 men in three years, and the District Attorney's Office and a Common Pleas Court judge agreed this week to vacate Coulston's conviction, making way for his release, the Inquirer reported.
That doesn’t seem like the rare strike of lightening. That seems like everyday, regular ol’ corruption that has robbed Black families of their loved ones for decades.
“Williams’ conviction was built on a house of cards that began to collapse in 2019 when the Commonwealth opened up its files to the defense,” the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit wrote in court filings the Inquirer obtained. “Once the light was allowed to shine, the Commonwealth was forced to see that the basic structure underpinning the conviction was built on the unscrupulous behavior of several bad actors.”