 |
In a separate case, Jonathan Fleming, 51, was found guilty in 1989
in the death of Darryl Rush in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and
served the next 24 years and 8 months in prison, according to the Kings County
district attorney's office. He was released Tuesday, April 8, 2014.
|
A
New York City man who served 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit
died unexpectedly over the weekend only three days before proceedings were
slated to begin concerning his US$124 million false imprisonment federal
lawsuit.
William
Lopez, 55, died on Sunday from an asthma attack, his lawyer told reporters this
week. A pre-motion conference pertaining to his case had been scheduled for
Monday, and proceedings were set to begin on Tuesday; the hearings have since
been postponed until a representative could be appointed to the estate,
attorney Dennis Kelly told the Associated Press.
Lopez
served nearly a quarter-century in prison for murder before a judge threw out
the conviction in January 2013 and said the case had been “rotten from Day 1.”
“[W]hat
is far from close in the court’s view is that Lopez has been wronged by the
State of New York,” Judge Nicolas Garaufis said early last
year, citing in his 57-page decision, among other contributing factors, “an overzealous and deceitful trial
prosecutor,” “a
series of indolent and ill-prepared defense attorneys” and “a bewildering jury verdict.”
“In
short, the prosecution’s evidence was flimsy to begin with and has since been
reduced to rubble,” Judge Garaufis wrote. “The result is that a likely innocent man
has been in prison for over 23 years. He should be released with the State’s
apology.”
The
Bronx man was originally found guilty of killing a drug dealer during an August
1989 altercation in Brooklyn and received a sentence of 25-years-to-life as a
result. This past March, Brooklyn’s new district attorney, Kenneth Thompson,
said his office “concluded that
there is a sufficient possibility that Lopez is not guilty” and
that pursuing an appeal after the conviction was overturned would be “contrary to the interest of justice.”
“My
brother Bill was greatly bothered by the fact that his life was dramatically
impacted by being wrongfully convicted, as well as his knowledge that many
other wrongful convictions have taken place without any changes in the system,”
Lopez’s brother, Eugene, told the New York Post this week.
The
deceased’s wife, Alice, is expected to soon be appointed as a representative to
Lopez’s estate where she may follow through with plans to seek $124 million
over her husband’s incarceration. The two were married while Lopez was in
prison and have a daughter who was only 14-months-old when the original
sentence was served 25 years ago.
“In
the 20 months of freedom he had after his release, he found some measure of
happiness, spending time with his wife, Alice, and rediscovering simple
pleasures, such as watching football with friends on Sundays,”
the NY Post wrote of Lopez on Monday after speaking with friends of the man.
Earlier this year, Jonathan
Fleming announced that would be suing New York City for US$162 million after he
was cleared of a separate 1989 murder conviction that kept him behind bars for
nearly 25 years. Fleming’s release in April came only three months after
Kenneth Thompson, the Brooklyn DA, released two other men from prison after
they served 21 years each for a triple homicide they did not commit.
No comments:
Post a Comment