Philadelphia DA’s office secures exoneration in 1997 Essie Thomas murder

PHILADELPHIA - Three men who spent decades in prison for a 1997 murder in North Philadelphia have been exonerated, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday. 

Mark Brittingham, Jermel Shuler, and Rasheed Smith were cleared Tuesday after a re-examination found major flaws in the original case.

Convictions overturned after new forensic review

What we know:

Brittingham, Shuler, and Smith were convicted in November 1998 of second-degree murder in the death of Essie Thomas, 73, and sentenced to life in prison. No witness saw or heard the attack, and no forensic or physical evidence tied them to the crime, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) found significant issues with the assistant medical examiner’s testimony about the time of death.

"The Commonwealth is constrained to conclude that the trial medical examiner’s findings were unreliable and that the new forensic pathology evidence casting grave doubt on the medical examiner’s testimony likely would have compelled a different verdict," said Assistant District Attorney Rebecca McDonald.

A single witness claimed to have seen the men leaving Thomas’ house on the night she was last known to be alive. That witness’s credibility was questioned at trial, and later forensic experts challenged the medical examiner’s findings regarding the time of death.

The CIU retained its own forensic pathology expert, who also disputed the original time-of-death estimate. After the CIU disclosed these findings, the men’s lawyers filed amendments to their joint 2022 Post Conviction Relief Act petition, arguing that this new evidence entitled them to relief.

Judge cites disciplinary issues with medical examiner

Dig deeper:

A judge vacated the convictions and granted a motion to drop the charges, citing disciplinary actions against the medical examiner that were discovered after the trial. 

"The conviction of these three men was a grave injustice and we are proud that the Conviction Integrity Unity helped to fix it," said Assistant District Attorney Matthew Stiegler, Supervisor of the CIU.

"This office is committed to both public safety and freedom, and when we have people sitting in jail potentially for the rest of their lives and their conviction lacks integrity, we are compelled to overturn that conviction in the interest of freedom and fairness," District Attorney Larry Krasner said.

As of Tuesday's announcement, Krasner’s administration has supported 59 exonerations of wrongfully convicted people.

What we don't know:

It is not yet clear what the next steps will be for Brittingham, Shuler, and Smith following their exoneration, or if any further investigation into the original case will take place.