Judge throws out conviction against Jabar Walker, who served 2 decades for double homicide he did not commit
NEW YORK -- A man wrongfully convicted of a double homicide was exonerated Monday in a Manhattan court. For more than two decades, Jabar Walker maintained his innocence.
Walker threw up his hands and hugged his family as he walked out of the courtroom a free man. Moments before, he pumped his fists as a judge finally vacated a sentence he had been serving for more than half his life.
"The first thing I want to do is just spend time with my family," Walker said.
Walker was accused of shooting and killing two men near 148th Street and Broadway in May 1995. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life despite a case prosecutors now admit was built on unreliable and forced testimony.
"If there was evidence that didn't fit the police theory of the crime and it was helpful to the accused, it was not documented. No report was written and it was suppressed,' said Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project.
A joint 11-month investigation by the Innocence Project and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office revealed that the sole eyewitness gave accounts riddled with inconsistencies. According to the Innocence Project, the woman had also received monetary benefits from prosecutors.
A second witness also recanted.
"Saying he was pressured to give false testimony against Mr. Walker by officers who intimated him and made him feel they if he didn't implicate Mr. Walker he was going to go down for something else," Potkin said.
Walker's case was one of two homicide cases the Manhattan DA's Office moved to vacate Monday.
Advocates say these cases illustrate how often evidence suppression occurs.
"You gotta just put in the work. You gotta stay true. You got to put it in and pray," Walker said.
"His mother knew that he would be home, but didn't know when," said Patrice Walker, Jabar's mother.
If not for Jabar Walker's persistence, his lawyers say he would have served his term until 2046.