By Ken Miller | Related Press
A wrongfully convicted Texas man who spent 34 years in jail for a killing within the Nineteen Eighties was exonerated Thursday, saying that whereas he couldn’t get these years again, he was comfortable and shifting ahead.
“I’m simply excited that today has lastly come,” mentioned Benjamin Spencer, 59.
A Dallas County decide granted a movement by the district legal professional’s workplace to dismiss an aggravated theft cost towards Spencer, who was initially convicted of homicide in 1987 within the carjacking and dying of Jeffrey Younger.
“It’s a good day,” mentioned protection legal professional Cheryl Wattley, who has labored on Spencer’s case for greater than 20 years. “I’m making an attempt exhausting to not cry.”
Wattley praised Dallas County Prison District Lawyer John Creuzot for taking a severe have a look at the proof that was discredited within the case.
Creuzot mentioned he was “relieved and humbled to assist appropriate this injustice.”
Prosecution witnesses, together with a jailhouse informant looking for leniency, gave false testimony, Creuzot mentioned. He added that prosecutors on the time additionally failed to offer the protection with proof that will have excluded Spencer from the crime, together with fingerprints.
Spencer, who maintained his innocence, noticed the 1987 conviction later overturned. However he was then tried once more and convicted and sentenced to life in jail for aggravated theft of Younger.
He was launched on bond in 2021 after the district legal professional’s workplace discovered his constitutional rights have been violated and he didn’t obtain a good trial because of the false witness testimony and withholding of proof.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction earlier this 12 months, sending the case again to Dallas County.
Assistant District Lawyer Cynthia Garza, who leads the workplace’s Conviction Integrity Unit, mentioned: “There exists no credible or bodily proof that he was in any approach concerned on this crime.”
Spencer is among the 60 longest-serving folks to be declared harmless, in accordance with knowledge stored by The Nationwide Registry of Exonerations.
Beneath Texas regulation, he’s eligible for a lump sum cost of as much as $80,000 for every year he was incarcerated and an annuity, Wattley mentioned.
Wattley mentioned Spencer is making an attempt to stay his life honorably and “making an attempt to be an instance that others will be impressed by.”
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