Donald Outlaw, who spent 15 years in prison for the murder of a man who apparently used his last breaths to tell police that someone other than Outlaw had shot him, is suing the city of Philadelphia and two detectives, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Outlaw was a teenager at the time of Jamal Kelly’s murder in 2000 and alleges in the federal lawsuit that the city of Philadelphia and its police department enabled unconstitutional practices throughout the investigation, AP reported. Outlaw claims homicide detectives withheld evidence and paid witnesses to provide false statements, which led to his wrongful conviction. The lawsuit named detectives Jeffrey Piree and Howard Peterman, the AP reported. Piree allegedly investigated cases of three other men who were exonerated by Philadelphia’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).
Donald Outlaw spent 15 yrs in prison for murder when he found out the man he was convicted of killing had told police with his dying breath that someone else had shot him. Outlaw filed a suit against Philadelphia and two detectives. Story by @ClaudiaLauerhttps://t.co/p1dP14nA7r
— Christina Paciolla (@cpaciolla) March 17, 2021
“Mr. Outlaw’s wrongful incarceration was the direct result of egregious misconduct by Defendants,” his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, according to the AP.
“Defendants improperly used their power and position to coerce witnesses into … offer[ing] sworn testimony that they knew to be false,” the attorneys said. The attorneys added that the defendants in the lawsuit withheld or disregarded evidence that could have led to Outlaw’s exoneration.
Outlaw was released on bail in 2019 after his conviction was overturned when a witness named Charles Paladino admitted he had devised a story with Philadelphia homicide detectives, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. An eyewitness who saw the individual named “Shank” shoot the murder victim was discovered only after Outlaw’s wife began posting fliers soliciting information more than 15 years after the shooting. The CIU said in 2020 fillings it had interviewed Paladino and learned that he had cooperated with detectives in at least one other homicide case, according to the Inquirer.
The victim’s declaration that “Shank” had killed him was never disclosed at Outlaw’s 2004 trial, according to the AP. However, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project (PIP) claims one police officer had testified that he heard Kelly say “Shank did it.” At the time, police questioned and then released Derrick Alston, whose nickname was “Shank.”
PIP attorneys worked for years trying to persuade the court to open a file that included Kelly’s dying declaration, the AP reported.
Several months after the murder, four witnesses, including Alston, began implicating Outlaw in the murder, according to PIP. Although the four witnesses recanted, a jury convicted Outlaw of the murder. Prosecutors claimed Outlaw had intimidated them out of testifying, Outlaw’s attorneys said, according to the AP.
The new witnesses testified in 2019, along with a witness from the first trial, who described how detectives helped him devise a story that implicated Outlaw, the AP reported. A judge freed Outlaw on bail. (RELATED: Idaho Will Pay People Wrongfully Convicted $62,000 For Each Year Spent In Jail)
In December, Outlaw became the 17th person exonerated with the support of the local innocence project since District Attorney Larry Krasner took office in 2018, according to the Inquirer. His exoneration was also a milestone for PIP, which reached 20 exonerations in the state since its founding in 2009.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks to a reporter. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
Several other exonerated men have filed claims of misconduct, including withheld exculpatory evidence and coercion of witnesses, according to the AP. The city had spent more than $35 million over three years toward wrongful incarceration lawsuits as of the end of 2020.