Current:Home > MyMan released from prison after judge throws out conviction in 1976 slaying after key witness recants-InfoLens
Man released from prison after judge throws out conviction in 1976 slaying after key witness recants
View Date:2025-01-11 03:11:27
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia man has been released from prison after his conviction in a poolroom slaying almost a half-century ago was overturned following recantation by a key witness of his testimony several years ago.
William Franklin, 77, released Tuesday, was convicted in the 1976 slaying of Joseph Hollis in a poolroom in the Brewerytown neighborhood based largely on the testimony of a jailhouse informant defense attorneys said was facing numerous criminal cases.
According to an affidavit and a video statement before his 2020 death, the informant said detectives not only threatened him with a life term but also offered him lenient treatment and the chance of liaisons with several girlfriends at police headquarters or hotel rooms, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier.
Common Pleas Court Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman last week threw out Franklin’s first-degree murder conviction, saying her court “is not fond of the notion” that Philadelphia authorities have closed cases using coercion and such secret incentives, the newspaper reported.
Franklin walked out of Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility Tuesday after 44 years in prison to cheers from supporters and hugged his loved ones outside the prison. He told WCAU-TV that he felt “fine, lovely, glad to be here” but said there was “more work to be done because we got a lot of brothers and sisters behind them walls.”
The family had a celebratory lunch at the north Philadelphia home of Franklin’s grandson, decorated with balloons and a “welcome home” sign. The Inquirer reported that his daughter, Gina Gibson said, that when he spotted the king-size bed, the 77-year-old jumped on it like a kid, saying, “You mean I get to roll over — twice?”
Franklin, denied bail by the judge, is now on house arrest pending a decision by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office on appealing the ruling or retrying him. Prosecutors had opposed Franklin’s petition, arguing that the recantation by the witness wasn’t credible.
veryGood! (58)
Related
- Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
- Biden's dog, Commander, bites Secret Service staff again
- Uber Eats will accept SNAP, EBT for grocery deliveries in 2024
- Level up leftovers with Tiffani Thiessen’s surf & turf tacos
- What does the top five look like and other questions facing the College Football Playoff committee
- Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower after Wall Street retreat deepens
- Germany bans far-right group that tried to indoctrinate children with Nazi ideology
- Angelina Jolie Shares Rare Insight into Life With Her and Brad Pitt's Kids
- Does the NFL have a special teams bias when hiring head coaches? History indicates it does
- Remains found of Colorado woman Suzanne Morphew, who went missing on Mother’s Day 2020
Ranking
- Mike Tyson is expected to honor late daughter during Jake Paul fight. Here's how.
- UAW president Shawn Fain has kept his lips sealed on some strike needs. Is it symbolic?
- Target announces nine store closures, cites 'organized retail crime'
- See Scumbag Tom Sandoval Willingly Get Annihilated By His Haters and Celebrity Critics
- November 2024 full moon this week is a super moon and the beaver moon
- Crucial for a Clean Energy Economy, the Aluminum Industry’s Carbon Footprint Is Enormous
- Charges refiled against ex-Philadelphia officer who fatally shot man after judge dismissed case
- Nick Cannon Says He Probably Wouldn’t Be Alive Without Mariah Carey's Help During Lupus Battle
Recommendation
-
How to protect your Social Security number from the Dark Web
-
Kate Middleton Shows Off Her Banging New Look in Must-See Hair Transformation
-
In conversation with Kerry Washington on her new memoir – Part I
-
'Wow, I'm an Olympian': American breakdancing world champ books ticket to Paris Olympics
-
Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election
-
A board leader calls the new Wisconsin wolf plan key to removing federal protections for the animal
-
A professor quietly resigned after 'falsifying grades'. Then she went to teach at another Wisconsin campus.
-
In a first, scientists recover RNA from an extinct species — the Tasmanian tiger