Legal News

Man Gets Second Murder Conviction Overturned

By Amir Efrati

Getting a murder conviction overturned is quite a feat. But an individual who gets two unrelated murder convictions wiped away is, well, almost unheard of.

This morning’s Legal Intelligencer includes the intriguing story of Zachary Wilson, who benefited from a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last week. The court affirmed a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge John R. Padova that overturned his second murder conviction, for the 1981 slaying of a man in a North Philadelphia bar.

Both cases involved prosecutor errors. In the most recent case, the 3rd Circuit, led by Judge Jane R. Roth, said prosecutors had violated Wilson’s constitutional rights by failing to disclose critical facts about three of the government’s key witnesses.

The prosecution had called two eyewitnesses — Jeffrey Rahming and Edward Jackson — who identified Wilson as the shooter. The third witness was Lawrence Gainer who testified that while he and Wilson were incarcerated together, Wilson had confessed to the murder.

Wilson’s lawyer argued that the prosecutor withheld information about Jackson’s prior conviction for impersonating a police officer; Rahming’s history of mental health problems and psychiatric intervention; and evidence that a police detective provided Gainer with interest-free loans.

Judge Roth wrote: “There can be no dispute that all of this information would have been favorable to Wilson and could have been used to impeach the Commonwealth’s three primary witnesses at trial and to undercut the Commonwealth’s case against Wilson.”

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Dolgenos, whose office brought the case, said in an interview with the Intelligencer that he was “disappointed” by the ruling and that he believes the prosecution didn’t violate Wilson’s rights. He said no decision has yet been made about whether to pursue further appellate options.

In the first overturned case, in 2005, Wilson’s legal team, led by Assistant Federal Defender Michael Wiseman, successfully argued that prosecutors improperly struck blacks from the jury when Wilson was tried for the February 1982 shooting of a man following a dispute over a game of craps. Judge Roth of the 3rd Circuit was also involved in overturning that conviction.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 28, 2009 (boomark / email).