Philadelphia court vacates murder convictions for three men in separate cases

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia has vacated the convictions of three men who had been serving life behind bars in two separate cases.

The court on Thursday found their due process rights have been violated.

Two of them, Curtis Kingwood and Faheem Davis, were convicted of murder ten years ago.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office says, at the time, Kingwood said that former detective Phillip Nordo sexually exploited and intimidated him.

Kingwood then implicated himself and Davis.

Years later, Nordo was convicted of the widespread sexual abuse of suspects.

In a second case, the court agreed that the 1996 murder conviction of Eddie Ramirez should be vacated.

The D.A.'s office conceded that witnesses were threatened by another detective with a history of coercive tactics.