He said: I tried to get the male to, uh, you know, put his hands where I could see them, and he was reaching for something and I couldnt see it.. Hicks lawyers argue that was the light that caused the attacker to flee before Hicks, and then police, arrived. Hicks lawyers allege that the cover-up went well beyond the three officers. WebHicks Settlement Settled by Tobias Hicks and sons about 1800. He was sentenced to 12 and to 25 years in prison. They lied under oath to cover up for shooting an innocent man three times in the back, Innocence Project lawyer Vanessa Potkin said. On a November morning in 2001, Hicks had just walked his little brother, Tyron, to the bus stop in their south Philadelphia neighborhood, when he was called to be a real-life Good Samaritan. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, The officers involved in this case had extensive internal affairs files with numerous allegations of lying, planting evidence, excessive force, and substantiated complaints filed by civilians. She couldnt clearly see her attacker in the dark, and she suffered a head injury. During his 19 years in prison, Hicks noticed how new inmates entering into the penitentiary were younger and younger. However, the court filings detail the role of Officer Robert Ellis, who testified at trial that he had recovered a .38-caliber Taurus from Hicks right jacket pocket. The police froze the crime scene and catalogued whatever was there. His attorneys celebrated the exoneration Wednesday, noting that Hicks, who was the father of a 5-year-old boy when he was incarcerated, would be able to meet his 2-year-old grandson for the first time. Philadelphia officials said Wednesday that the city will be paying out $9.8 million in one of the largest wrongful-conviction settlements in the citys history to a Black man who spent 28 years in prison for a murder the district attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit now says it was near impossible that he committed. Finally home, Mr. Hicks said hes most proud of himself for staying strong and remaining determined to prove his innocence. Rev. Six of the eight accused officers admitted to having sexual contact with inmates, according to a July document filed by the United States in response to the complaint. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. According to her filings, the process of constructing a cover-up began immediately. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. There was irrefutable evidence that Chester was innocent, is innocent and has always been innocent and would never have been wrongfully convicted aside from extraordinary police misconduct, Green said. In 2015, Mr. Hicks came up for parole, but because he continued to assert his innocence he was denied, and not considered again. In 2003, the Innocence Project had just 15 attorneys and could not take his case. A judge ordered him released last year at age 49, citing evidence that police and prosecutors built their case on fabricated statements from people they coerced as witnesses and later withheld evidence pointing to the likely true perpetrators of the crime. Again, no gray hoodie was found. As he was reaching for his cellphone to dial 911, the police suddenly arrived, shot him in the back and charged him unjustly. My heart was filled with sorrow reading your story but as I saw your smile in the video, my tears of sorrow became tears of joy. There were moments, but I did not give up, he said. As the Psalmist wrote, God knows our frame and remembers we are made from dust. With that understanding, I am able to move forward. Then the pandemic hit. Dr. Mark Bozzuti-Jones, Two-Year Spiritual Direction Training Course, Spring Music Season at Trinity Church Wall Street, Parables, Spirituals, and Our Own Stories with the Rev. Like the traveler in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the victim had been left beaten, bloody, and half naked. He said he felt the amount given to his clients was fair. TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA A federal grand jury has returned a twenty-one count indictment against Andrew Demetric Gillum, 42, and Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, 53, both of Tallahassee, Florida. The indictment was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Mr. Thank you for visiting us. Bryan Busch, who represented 11 women, and Phil Reizenstein, who represents one woman, said they did not want to comment on the settlement amounts until funds were released. And he was unarmed. Both sides said it did not follow that the gun was smeared in blood, while the interior of the pocket it supposedly came from was pristine. The presumption of innocence., Demographic changes: How the racial makeup of where you live has changed since 1990, Newsletter: Subscribe to About US to read the latest on race and identity, George Floyds America: Examining systemic racism through the lens of his life, Resources: Understanding racism and inequality in America. Zungolo, of South Detectives Division, declined an interview and referred questions to John McGrody, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. He was exonerated after the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office conceded that lead police officers lied under oath to cover up shooting Mr. Hickswho was innocent of any crimein the back three times. And the gun the officers alleged to have found in his pocket was actually the off-duty weapon of another Philadelphia police officer. The city has settled civil-rights complaints naming Vinson and Ellis as defendants. Within 30 days of surrendering his appellate rights, Hicks was contacted by the Innocence Project. Several of the same investigators who worked to convict Wright were also involved in Hollmans case. Baden testified that all shots were fired from behind Hicks, so he could not have been lunging at the officer who pulled the trigger. All Rights Reserved. One witness was threatened with arrest and the other was promised help on his own pending criminal case in exchange for falsely implicating Hollman. Had these records been publicly available, Mr. Hicks may not have had to endure so many years of injustice or been wrongly convicted at all, she said. Falsely claiming under oath that Mr. Hicks wore a gray hoodie like that a neighbor described the assailant as wearing. The timing was uncanny. What she remembered was that after bright lights appeared, the assault stopped. Chester Hollman III was 21, with no criminal record and a job as an armored-car driver, when he was pulled over in Center City one night in 1991 and charged with the fatal shooting of a University of Pennsylvania student in a botched street robbery. His brothers Tone Hicks and Tyron McClendon greeted him upon release. The officers involved in this case had extensive internal affairs files with numerous allegations of lying, planting evidence, excessive force, and substantiated complaints filed by civilians. Vinson and Zungolo still work for the Philadelphia police, the Inquirer reported. Then a 26-year-old father of one, Mr. Hicks had been walking home when he heard a woman screaming. In this case, the new evidence came from Hickss clothing and his own body. Settlements for some of the women, some whom are currently still incarcerated there, were higher than the government had initially allocated to pay. Hicks said he showed up at the scene moments after the true assailant ran away from those headlights and just a few moments before police arrived. On December 16, 2020, Termaine Hicks received what he calls the best news Ive heard in all my life. Hicks learned that, after 19 years in prison for crimes he did not commit, he was finally going home. Latino leaders could collaborate with Black communities. Both a forensic analysis of Hicks medical records and a review of his clothing with bullet holes in the back, but none in the front supported Hicks account, according to the citys chief medical examiner. How Black and Latino people did in this last round of redistricting. A police spokesperson said that the district attorney did not provide details on the allegations until after Hicks If the case had not settled, it would have gone to trial next year. The Best News Ive Heard in All My Li After realizing theyd shot an unarmed man who did not match the description of the attacker, the officers conspired to cover it up. The chief medical examiner recanted his prior testimony. They instead retired or resigned, and some still receive benefits from their federal employment. They were happy for me, banging on doors, he said. McGrody did not return calls Tuesday. Lettman-Hicks filed to run for the District 8 seat on June 1, just days before a federal grand jury indicted on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He was exonerated after the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office conceded that lead police officers lied under oath to cover up shooting Hickswho was innocent of any crimein the back three times. A neighbor who witnessed the woman being dragged by the assailant from the sidewalk to the alley and called police in real-time, reported that the attacker was wearing a gray hoodie covering his head. As he reached for his cell phone to call 911, two police officers ran to the scene. Potkin said further evidence suggests police planted the gun they said they retrieved from his jacket pocket. The Philadelphia police did not immediately return a request for comment on the case, but Anthony Erace, the executive director of the Police Advisory Commission, told the Inquirer he would seek a review of the investigation. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone. Thank you for visiting us. Many will have a tale of transformation to share. Slichter said to them, I dont know how you feel about having a woman for a mentor. In prison, I had to coax some of those guys up there. He was exonerated in 2020. The Philadelphia District Attorneys Offices Conviction Integrity Unit sided with Hicks and his lawyers, and Common Pleas Court Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman vacated his conviction on Wednesday. Then they began to let us out againbut only for 15 minutes a day. You cant be in this box when it comes to God and religion, he says. Abram Depp Settlement The farm of Abram and Lucy Depp was the first of this settlement of African Americans. The Inquirer reported that Hickss lawyer, Vanessa Potkin, said the gun was covered with blood, but the coat pocket, where Vinson claimed Hicks had been keeping the gun, was clean. The men told me how much they loved Dennis.. However, the recent assessments by both the chief medical examiner for the City of Philadelphia and an independent medical examiner concluded that Mr. Hicks was shot from behind meaning he wasnt coming toward the officers when he was shot. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Those cases have led to more than a dozen exonerations in recent years and have cost the city more than $35 million since 2018. TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA A federal grand jury has returned a twenty-one count indictment against Andrew Demetric Gillum, 42, and Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, A reporter at the Inquirer since 2013, I cover issues of identity, race, social justice, as well as prisons and the legal system. Termaine Joseph Hicks was freed from prison in Philadelphia on Wednesday after serving 19 of 25 years on a trumped up conviction Hicks, now 45, was jailed in 2001 after Philadelphia cops Marvin Vinson and Sgt. Dennis Zungolo have been placed on restricted duty and the identity of the third officer has not been released. Listen: Stories about Black men spending years and even decades behind bars for crimes they didnt. After shooting Hicks, Vinson approached and patted him down in search of his weapon. I am quite cognizant of the pain and the trauma of the victim, and then more pain in realizing that the wrong person was convicted, Brandeis-Roman said. 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