A 35-year-old American man who had been unjustly detained for eighteen years was released on Thursday. Sheldon Thomas carried out a fatal shooting in New York City in 2005, and law enforcement deliberately used a photo of another man with the same name.
According to the prosecutor, it has been determined that Thomas was intentionally misidentified by police officers. The photo was shown to 32 law students, and 27 of them immediately saw that it was not Thomas in the photo. The New York Times.
The police also knew that Thomas was not in the photo used. Yet it was used as evidence against him and used as a key witness statement.
When the shooting suspect had to be identified based on six photographs, a witness pointed to Thomas as the suspect. Despite repeated attempts to challenge the conviction, the testimony lasted eighteen years.
“This case has been plagued by errors and lack of evidence from the beginning,” the lawyer said. “It’s unfair. Thomas has been intimidated by detectives for months.”
The real killer of the six-person shooting remains unknown. Thomas said he was “speechless” by his release. He always maintained that he was innocent.
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