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▲ Sheldon Thomas (right), who was framed for murder and imprisoned for a photo of the same name (left)
A man in the United States was found to have been wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years because of a photograph of the namesake man presented to the Witnesses.
On Feb. 9, the New York Post (NYT) reported the story of Sheldon Thomas, 35, who was framed for murder and served time in prison.
Thomas was convicted and convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with a December 2004, 12, shooting on a street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
At the time, police had arrested two of the three men who killed a 24-year-old boy and injured another passerby, based on eyewitness accounts.
Police then "received an anonymous tip" and listed Thomas, who had previously been arrested for pointing a broken gun at an officer, and pulled a photo of him from the database and showed it to witnesses.
An eyewitness then testified that he was most likely one of the shooting suspects at the time, and police arrested Thomas.
The court sentenced him to 2 years in prison and life imprisonment.
Thomas claimed that he was "in Queens, not Brooklyn, from the evening of the incident until the early hours of the next day," but this was not accepted.
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▲ Sheldon Thomas exonerates murder
However, a recent investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office of Conviction and Review (CRU) belatedly revealed that Thomas had been framed for police wrongdoing.
Because what the police showed the witness at the time was not the accused Thomas, but a photograph of a black man of the same name who lived in the same neighborhood.
Although the court's preliminary hearing revealed false photographs as well as misrepresentations by some officers, the judge in charge decided that "the two Thomas were similar and that the police had good reason to arrest him" and proceeded with the trial.
In response, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez of New York City said in a statement on Jan. 9 that "the Prosecutor's Conviction Review Board investigation revealed that Thomas was arrested as a result of a false identification investigation."
"We must seek fairness and have the courage to right the wrongs of the past," he said, emphasizing that "this case was fraught with serious wrongdoing from the start and there was no legitimate reason to arrest Thomas."
Thomas, who was exonerated after 18 years, said he had "been waiting for a long time for this day to come" and that he "sends his condolences to the families of the victims."
(Photo=Yonhap News, Brooklyn District Attorney's Office Facebook capture)