Man cleared of NYC murder after 25 years in prison

Just...wow
This guy spent 25 years in prison for a crime he did NOT commit.

NEW YORK (AP) — From the day of his 1989 arrest in a deadly New York City shooting, Jonathan Fleming said he had been more than 1,000 miles away, on a vacation at Disney World.

Despite having documents to back him up, he was convicted of murder. Prosecutors now agree with him, and Fleming left a Brooklyn court as a free man Tuesday after spending nearly a quarter-century behind bars.

Fleming, now 51, tearfully hugged his lawyers as relatives cheered, "Thank you, God!" after a judge dismissed the case. A key witness had recanted, newly found witnesses implicated someone else and prosecutors' review of authorities' files turned up documents supporting Fleming's alibi.

The witness that said she SAW him do the murder?

The witness recanted her testimony soon after Fleming's 1990 conviction, saying she had lied so police would cut her loose for an unrelated arrest, but Fleming lost his appeals.

Not only he didnt commit it, he was in FLORIDA at the time of the killing!! He had tickets, video evidence AND eyewitness testimony to PROVE it.

Fleming had plane tickets, videos and postcards from his trip, said his lawyers, Anthony Mayol and Taylor Koss. But prosecutors at the time suggested he could have made a quick round-trip plane jaunt to be in New York

Even more wow. Goes to show you folks, even if you werent there and they want you, YOURE GUILTY!!!
This entire story makes me so damn sick.
Story

HomerinNC
The witness recanted her testimony soon after Fleming's 1990 conviction, saying she had lied so police would cut her loose for an unrelated arrest, but Fleming lost his appeals.

This is exactly why we need to rid ourselves of the "rat on someone" plea bargains.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Hopefully he will now get a good lawyer and sue the NYPD to smithereens. This kind of story annoys the hell out of me. Sloppy policing and a DA office that's too keen on getting someone arrested and tried quickly than actual justice. It's also this kind of story that makes me so anti-capital punishment. If this guy had been sent to the Chair and it had emerged afterwards that he was innocent it makes it a bit hard to apologise to him.

So for a judge in 1990 a "could" from the prosecutor was a tangible proof? The judge and prosecutor "should" be sentenced to 25 years...

S&F...!

Yes...it is completely sickening in the land of the free, home of the brave and justice for all...sn't ?

14 years ago .. I had a dream that I woke up from weeping and my pillow soaked in tears ...I was convicted in the dream for 5 years in prision because a witness said she SAW me do a drug deal ...even though I don't have a record...at all .. it was all circumstantial ..and because I had 200.00$ in cash in my pocket..that was enough to convict me...all i could think of in the dream was my 2 young daughters as I heard the slamming of the iron gates behind me as I carried my bedding down the long hall...

the downtown court house was literally filled with character witnesses for me as well as around the block...it didn't matter.. all the evidence that wasn't there and my good character couldn't stop the judge from his decision ,,,

yes..it's happening ..and will continue ...and I'm not sure if can be stopped ...

but there is hope..

I have seen first hand too where the courts block exculpatory evidence in a case that could help the defendant because they dont want it to muddy the waters. The system is a joke. This is coming from someone who was part of it for almost ten years (as a cop)...and although I was in a different state...its # everywhere you go.

reply to post by HomerinNC


we all know how crooked and sorry the courts,prosecutors, and police can be. what gets me is the jury.

beyond reasonable doubt. with all that evidence that showed he was not in New York, but in Orlando, i don't care what the prosecutor said, or how many witness said they saw him. they would not have convinced me that he was guilty.

that's one reason i don't do jury duty, i don't want that on my head. sending someone to prison for life or death, only to find out years later that they were innocent would eat me alive. i think in these kind of cases, there should be more than circumstantial evidence and more than one witness to convict. something like a smoking gun in their hand standing over the body, a bloody knife dripping blood in their hand, video or picture that can be proven not to be altered. hell i think even DNA evidence should be questioned most of the time, especially if the person knew the victim. better to let a guilty person off than to send a innocent one to death or prison for most of there life.

and i don't even want to get started on the prosecutors, i'll give just two example of them, nancy grace and jane velez-mitchell, they never saw a innocent person ever. just like the prosecutor/ DA in this case, he wanted his conviction regardless of what the evidence said. he made a quick round trip from orlando to new york and back. how dumb were the people on the jury to think the man could have done that, considering that the airports in those cities are in the top twenty for being the busiest in the U.S., which doesn't make for fast travel thru them, even back in 1989. hell the cab rides alone take for ever, and i doubt the guy had a car in one of the parking lots.

no this just goes to show you that our justice system is pretty flawed.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Someone or ones in the police knew the real story here and didn't go to bat for this guy. There should be no statute of limitations on being an accessory to false or unjust imprisonment.

BTW, this is a picture perfect example of why the state should not execute or be otherwise responsible for matters of great importance.

reply to post by HomerinNC


We all agree what happened was wrong ?

How could you put a value on the damages done?

25 X $____________

To me there is no right number, he should never have to go without ...

The worst part of it is the DA will get a slap on the wrist and told 'not to do it again,"
The DA HAD the evidence that would have set him free, but wouldnt release it to the defense.
to me thats big time FUBAR

I used to be a very strong proponent for the death penalty, but examples like this are not rare, and are what caused me to change my stance.

If even one innocent person were to be executed, and I am sure it has happened, it is one too many. As has been pointed out, once they're dead, it's too late to say, "I'm sorry".

There are a lot more innocent people in prison than many would like to admit. Some due to mistaken identity, or witnesses looking for their 15 minutes, but even worse, due to corruption.

Coming up on election time, and you have a DA feeling community pressure to prosecute someone, anyone, or, as simple as fabricating or withholding evidence because they don't 'like' someone. It happens a lot more than you may think.

Having been on that end of the spectrum with a loved one, it forces you to face the reality of it, and to see that untoward things happen. Corruption runs deep through all sections of our government, but try to find someone not corrupt, that cares and has the power to actually do anything about it. Nearly impossible without a LOT of money. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, is the only way to obtain your freedom.

People like the one in the O.P. often have the backing of organizations, and their very reason for existing is to find people like this and help them. However, again, funding is in short supply. It's all rigged, and all based on the almighty dollar, definely not how our courts were originally designed to work.

So yes, next time you wish the death penalty on someone, be absolutely certain you know ALL of the facts, because often, the story you are told is only one side, and not the total truth.

On forgiveness, no amount of money can replace what was lost to this man, and many others like him. It is not even possible to define what was lost, no one can possibly know, aside from basic freedom. It is a travesty.

HomerinNC
The worst part of it is the DA will get a slap on the wrist and told 'not to do it again,"
The DA HAD the evidence that would have set him free, but wouldnt release it to the defense.
to me thats big time FUBAR

Or, in the case of my sons' prosecution, the DA was caught, and outted by the judge, whom I believe knew all along what was going on. However, it must have reached a stage where it was threatening to go public. They gave the DA the choice, apparently, to resign quietly, and move on, or face firing and prosecution. Obviously, he resigned. The judge, I feel, did this to cover his own guilt. Afterall, if he was responsible for the removal of this corrupt DA, how can anyone consider he was a part of it?

The gulty DA certainly cannot come forward and point the finger at the judge as being a knowing, willing participant, as this would be a self incriminating act in itself.

The sad part is, only a certain few of the cases this DA mishandled were chosen to be re-heard. My sons' was not one of them. They are still cherry picking what they do, and do not want to deal with.

All the while, this has been kept out of the media, and, unless you are in the 'know', you cannot prove it. I even contacted an investigative reporter, who, after investigating, was still unable to uncover anything more than "the DA simply resigned". However, even the families of the prisoners that were wrongly convicted, who's cases are, or have been reheard, know. But, they won't even talk, lest it somehow interferes with their loved ones' chances of freedom.

The last time my son stood in front of this judge, it was made clear, in both words spoken and words unspoken, that he knew my son was wrongly convicted. He did grant an appeal, and knowing how deep the corruption runs in that city, even granted him an attorney from outside that district. That spoke volumes in itself.

However, the fact that exculpatory evidence was not only withheld, but destroyed, has yet to be dealt with. The evidence was spoken of in court, written about in documents, numbered in the evidence list, yet, somehow magically vanished.

This lost evidence, along with many other issues, are a part of the appeal. He is nearly guaranteed a win, and the judge knows it. This is part of the unspoken words I mentioned.

After 5 plus years now, do you take your freedom and run, or, stay back and continue to try to garner attention to a corruption so deep, yet no one is willing, nor capable, of doing anything about, and risking losing your freedom, because you won't 'behave'?

I can promise you which route my son is taking. He just wants to come home.

They have far more power than you can realize, or imagine. They can take your freedom from you, and make your life a living hell. You either shut up and do what you can to save yourself, or, make noise and risk getting burried under the prison. Make your choice.

He tried making noise. No one cared. The more noise he made, the worse life became or him. He shut up, and magically, things became a lot better.

There are people that care, obviously, but the ones that run the machine are so deeply involved, and the corruption is so deep, that you simply cannot do anything about it without a lot of money. And, as someone else said, if they want you in prison, you WILL go to prison, no matter what. You, me, all of us are helpless to do anything about the corruption. I wish it wasn't this way, but this is reality. You only have the option of trying to beat them at their own game.

There are many many stories very similar to this one. There is proof everywhere of courts tossing out evidence that free people only to have them released later when even more evidence proving their innocence. You are guilty till you can afford innocences. It is especially bad for crimes where the public demand a scapegoat for a crime and they toss an innocent person away to appease the mobs. Judges and prosecuting attorneys should be jailed a significant time for throwing someone's life away like that. I am in a similar situation where I cant have peace and freedom even when I prove I have done nothing wrong.

Mhmm. Yep..if this happened in a state that allowed executions...

..


And this is not a one off thing sadly. There are actual people in our system whom are innocent but due to being in the wrong place/wrong time or the state simply wanted a quick wrapup...

Nothing can give this person time back which is what was truly taken from him. Money? pfft...I mean, give it to the guy, and enough of it to where he never has to worry about a job again (because who would hire him..what sort of skillset did he miss out on gaining within that time)...but there is very little you can give to make up for that loss of a significant portion of life.

what a mess

And yeah. lets eliminate death sentences. You can justify it all you want, but if you execute even a single innocent person, your cheering on, and becoming an accessory to, murder of a innocent.