Emotional reunion after 3rd exonerated man released from prison after 30 years | EXCLUSIVE
CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) -- A third man who was exonerated in a 1997 Philadelphia murder case has been released from prison.
Marc Brittingham walked out of the SCI Chester on Wednesday morning after a judge overturned his conviction.
Two other men, Rasheed Smith and Jermal Shuler, were released from SCI Phoenix in Skippack Township, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
Smith and Shuler were waiting for Brittingham as he was released. There were hugs and tears as the men were reunited.
The three men were imprisoned for nearly three decades. However, they are now free men again after a judge threw out their convictions in the stabbing death of a 73-year-old North Philadelphia woman.
Brittingham has to wait an extra day because of processing delays.
A judge vacated the convictions after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed the case had collapsed.
The men had been found guilty in the killing of Essie Mae Thomas, who was discovered stabbed to death in her home on North Judson Street following an attempted burglary in November 1997.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said the original case relied on a single eyewitness who claimed she saw the men on Thomas' porch the night prosecutors believed the murder occurred, a Saturday night.be
She was found dead by her grand nephew that Monday, who was concerned when she didn't answer his phone calls and came to check on her.
The eyewitness testimony supported the medical examiner's determination that the victim's time of death was also a Saturday night.
No physical or forensic evidence tied the men to the crime.
"They were robbed of a fair trial. Their conviction has no integrity," Krasner said. "The only witness in the case, who actually put these men close to this woman who was murdered, is a known liar."
Years after the trial, both the eyewitness account and the medical examiner's determination of the time of death were challenged.
Independent forensic pathologists hired by both sides concluded the victim likely died at least 24 hours later than originally stated.
"We have a time of death that's completely wrong, we believe, and we have a witness who's a liar. And that's the whole case. Do we know with certainty whether they're innocent or not? No," Krasner said. "The issue is whether or not what we have here is a conviction that still has integrity."
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project began reviewing the case in 2009.
Legal director Nilam Sanghvi, who represents Brittingham, told Action News, "100% we believe all three men are innocent. Marc didn't do this," she said. "There was really zero evidence at the time of trial and now we know that the Commonwealth's entire case was built on a false premise."
Regarding the witness testimony, Sanghvi said, "Eyewitness identifications are a known cause of wrongful convictions, but on top of that, this particular witness was given incentives in exchange for her cooperation. She was relocated to a different residence, so we were skeptical about what her motives might have been."
"Everything was sloppy from the beginning, Smith said.
"They didn't care back then, it was just an open and shut case. They didn't care about anything. The jury came back in two hours and found us guilty for a crime we didn't commit with no evidence," he told Action News, adding that he prays someone else is held accountable.
Smith and Shuler said they are now focused on adjusting to life outside prison.
"I'm here now. Ain't nothing to cry about no more, I'm here," Shuler said.
"I'm trying to take everything one day at a time," added Smith. "Education, work, be a civilian. I want to be able to pay a bill one day. I never had a driver's license, I never had a phone, never had anything. Everything is all new to me."
Krasner said his office sees no remaining leads in the killing of Essie Mae Thomas.
"We see no avenue for further investigation and we have very diligently explored possibilities," he said.
The case is now considered cold, though he said prosecutors would revisit it if new evidence emerges.
Attempts to reach Thomas' family were unsuccessful.
