Two men finally released from prison after serving 42 years for a murder they didn't commit
Source: Raw Story
Two men finally released from prison after serving 42 years for a murder they didn’t commit
SARAH K. BURRIS
28 MAR 2019 AT 15:06 ET
Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew, Hubert Myers (Photo by: Florida Dept. of Corrections)
The May 1976 death of Jeannette Williams landed two innocent men in jail for the crime. For over 40 years, Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew, Hubert Myers have maintained their innocence, to no avail. But after the actual murderer admitted the crime to friends of the men, the accused were finally released from the Florida jail, News4JAX reported.
Williams’ roommate, Nina Marshal, who was also shot, identified the two men after saying that they came into the bedroom and fired the shots at both of them. Evidence gathered at the time, however, showed that the shots came from outside the apartment. That still wasn’t enough to discount her claims.
Meyers and Williams said that they were at a party down the street and many witnesses corroborated their alibi, but none of that evidence was brought up during the trial.
Prosecutors at the time spun a story that Williams and Myers committed the murder because of a drug the victim owed, but the only evidence was the testimony from the roommate.
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/two-men-finally-released-prison-serving-42-years-murder-didnt-commit/?utm_source=push_notifications
Jacksonville men freed 43 years after wrongful murder conviction, a first for a Florida conviction review unit
Posted at 1:41 PM
Updated at 1:41 PM
A Duval County circuit judge on Thursday ruled that an uncle and nephew should be set free after sitting in prison for more than four decades for a murder that prosecutors now say the men almost certainly didn’t commit, a rare finding that overturns the convictions of a 1976 trial in Jacksonville.
The order to vacate the convictions of Clifford Williams and his nephew, Nathan Myers, stems from a recommendation made by Florida’s first-ever conviction integrity review unit, set up by State Attorney Melissa Nelson in 2018.
At its heart, the recommendation found that defense lawyers for Williams and Myers failed to present evidence to the jury that would’ve contradicted the single eyewitness prosecutors relied upon to convict the men of murdering Jeanette Williams in her bedroom in 1976.
“There is no credible evidence of guilt,” the State Attorney’s Office report says, “and likewise, there is credible evidence of innocence.”
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190328/jacksonville-men-freed-43-years-after-wrongful-murder-conviction-first-for-florida-conviction-review-unit
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