2 Pa. Teens Convicted In 'Terribly Weak' Case To Get New Trials
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two men convicted as teens in a 1995 murder will get new trials after a Philadelphia judge found the trial evidence "terribly weak."
Eugene Gilyard was convicted based on a single eyewitness who briefly saw someone through an upstairs window — with a fan in it — at 2 a.m.
The witness identified him in a lineup two years later.
Common Pleas Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi also awarded a new trial Tuesday for co-defendant Lance Felder.
Kenyatta Felder testified this year that his 16-year-old brother, Lance, was not the getaway driver — because their older brother was.
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project obtained a 2011 confession from a convicted killer who says he shot the victim, a restaurant owner.
Philadelphia prosecutors say that inmate was paid to confess.
But the judge calls him a suspect from the start.
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