A man who spent 24 years in jail for a murder he did not
commit has finally been released thanks to the worth of the Brooklyn District
Attorney's Office.
In August 1989, Jonathan Fleming was sentenced to 25 years to
life in prison after being convicted of killing Darryl Rush, 22, in
Williamsburg. Fleming, now 51, has always insisted that he was in Orlando, Fla.
at the time of Rush's murder. Despite his attorneys having plane tickets and
video to corroborate his story, prosecutors claimed that Fleming still could
have flown back to kill Rush.
That argument, coupled with the testimony of alleged crack
addict Jacqueline Belardo, was enough for the jury to convict Fleming. However,
Belardo later admitted that she was pressured to testify to secure a deal from
prosecutors.
New Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson enlisted his
Conviction Review Unit, which determined that Belardo flagged Fleming as Rush's
killer two hours after being arrested for grand larceny, a case where the
charges were suspiciously dismissed almost immediately. The unit also
discovered a receipt from an Orlando Quality Inn where Fleming stayed that was
printed less than five hours before Rush was killed. Furthermore, employees
there recalled seeing Fleming at the resort.
Thompson announced that the charges against Fleming were
being dismissed today. Fleming, who told reporters he "knew this day would
come" eventually, added that he planned eat dinner with his mother [and
family]," then move on with his life
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