Two lives ruined by injustice... Two New York African-Americans convicted more than 35 years ago for the murder of a French tourist in Manhattan on New Year's Eve 1987 have been exonerated, New York justice announced on Wednesday .
“Eric Smokes and David Warren lost decades of their lives for an unjust conviction (…) It is never too late to revisit old convictions, because everyone in New York deserves fair justice based on the law,” New York State Attorney for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, said in a statement.
Also read: Wrongly convicted and exonerated after 16 years in prison, an African-American killed during a traffic stop
The magistrate, an African-American elected official from the Democratic Party, welcomed the fact that after having pleaded to have this double conviction for murder pronounced by a New York court in July 1987 “cancelled”. A judge “cancelled the convictions and the indictment” of those who were 19 and 16 years old respectively at the time.
False testimony under duress
Eric Smokes and David Warren, 56 and 53 years old today, spent 24 and 20 years in prison, from which they were released on parole in 2011 and 2007.
Eric Smokes (in black) and David Warren talk to press.
https://t.co/toaGWcfDjD pic.twitter.com/VxF2aRvGn7
— Ted Hamm (@HammerDaily) January 31, 2024
“Thirty and something years later, you continue to fight for your rights, for a court to tell you that these convictions were not justified, well today, I am going to grant it to you,” declared to the two men seated Judge Stephen Antignani, to the applause of the audience, reports the New York Times.
The two wrongly accused have continued to proclaim their innocence but the courts only reopened their investigation in 2022 with a view to a possible review of the judgment.
Investigators notably examined police reports from the time and re-interviewed teenage witnesses in 1987.
It turned out that the testimonies against these young people were either false or contradictory, or given under duress.
Additionally, the two men had an “alibi” that they were not in Times Square the night of the death of Frenchman Jean Casse, a 71-year-old tourist at the time.
“Why don’t you kill me on the spot?”
»
According to the New York prosecutor's account, this Toulouse retiree was robbed and attacked in a street near the legendary Manhattan intersection, before dying from a fractured skull and internal bleeding after hitting the sidewalk during of aggression.
During the trial, Eric Smokes greeted the verdict by shouting: “I didn't kill anyone.
Why don't you kill me on the spot?
», reported AFP in 1987.
Since 1989, 124 murder convictions have been overturned in New York, out of 1,317 nationwide, according to figures from the National Exoneration Registry.
The vast majority of names cleared of all convictions are black or Hispanic people, specifies the New York Times.