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Man Wrongly Jailed For 24 Years Released From Prison By Brooklyn DA
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 8, 2014
Modified Apr 8, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 8, 2014
Modified Apr 8, 2014
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A Brooklyn man who was wrongly convicted of a 1989 murder has been released from prison after serving 24 years, after an investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office uncovered long-buried exonerating evidence. He is expected to walk free today.
Jonathan Fleming, 51, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 1990, after a jury deemed him guilty of fatally shooting 22-year-old Darryl Rush in Williamsburg in 1989. Fleming maintained that he had been in Orlando, Florida at the time of the August killing, and though Fleming's lawyers produced plane tickets and video footage that confirmed his alibi, prosecutors argued he could have surreptitiously flown back in time to commit the murder. That argument, along with testimony from an "eyewitness," a reported crack addict named Jacqueline Belardo, managed to convince the jury.
Belardo later recanted her testimony, telling authorities she'd been pressured to testify against Fleming in exchange for a deal with prosecutors. Fleming's conviction recently got a closer look from the new Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson's Conviction Review Unit. That investigation revealed that Belardo identified Fleming as the murder only two hours after getting arrested on grand larceny charges that were immediately dismissed, casting further doubt on her reliability as a witness.
More importantly, the DA's office found, among other things, a receipt for a phone bill from a Quality Inn in Orlando that proved Fleming was in Florida under five hours before Rush's murder—that receipt was not used as evidence in Fleming's initial trial. A former girlfriend of Fleming’s confirmed the phone call. And in an Orlando police report, a number of employees at that Quality Inn also vouched for Fleming, saying they remembered seeing him.
In a press release today, Thompson announced he will be dismissing Fleming's charges. "Today’s actions follow a careful and thorough review of this case, and based on key alibi facts that place Fleming in Florida at the time of the murder, I have decided to dismiss all charges against him in the interest of justice,” he said in a statement. Fleming is expected to be released later today. "I'm going to go eat dinner with my mother and my family, and I'm going to live the rest of my life," Fleming told reporters today. "I've always had faith. I knew that this day would come someday."
This is the third conviction Thompson has dismissed since coming into office in January, having released two men serving 20-year sentences in February—critics maintain, however, that the new DA is not overturning wrongful convictions fast enough, particularly in light of the massive probe into convictions handled by shady former detective Louis Scarcella. "This is what he campaigned on," lawyer Ron Kuby told the Daily News. "That was the job he wanted. And that is the job he must do."
Tagged
brooklyn da
jonathan fleming
ken thompson
wrongful conviction
Rebecca Fishbein
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