Read original article on ‘The Black Loop’ or read the key facts below;
- “Shaurn Thomas, convicted for the 1990 murder of Domingo Martinez, walked out of State Correctional Institution in Frackville, on Tuesday, May 23.”
- “According to NBC 10 – Philadelphia, he’s served “nearly a quarter century for a crime he did not commit.” Thomas quotes as follows. “It’s been a struggle. Hard struggle. Just can’t give up. That’s why I’m here today.”
- A particular witness claims to have watched Thomas shoot and kill Martinez on the morning of November 13, 1990 — as Martinez was taking $25,000 to a local check-cashing facility, says NBC News.
- “The issue with that comes from Thomas and his mother. According to his mom, she was with him at the time of the incident, and they were both at the Youth Study Center.”
- “NBC-10 reports as follows. “But when Thomas’s case went to trial in 1994, the sign-in log at the center had disappeared and the jury never heard about his alibi, according to the statement. Testimony by a single witness linked Thomas to the scene of the crime — but the witness later recanted.”
- “Thomas has already served 24 years, even after neither evidence nor witness testimony stuck. Now, on June 13, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office plans to return to court. There will be a hearing to determine if prosecutors will retry Thomas. “They may want to give it another go? This system is so broken; it’s utterly ridiculous at this point.”
