In 1990, rich Puerto Rican businessman Domingo Martinez was robbed and murdered in Philadelphia. Cops quickly singled out 16-year-old Shaun Thomas and his associates within the North Philadelphia’s Abbotsford Homes housing undertaking as suspects.
But Shaun had a seemingly air-tight alibi: he was at a listening to at Center City’s Youth Study Center for an unrelated juvenile offense on the time the homicide was dedicated.
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Despite the proof to assist this reality, Shaun was convicted of homicide on January 31, 1995 and sentenced to life with out parole. He was locked up at age 19.
Shaun tried to years to battle the ruling, however his appeals had been dismissed. So Shaun took it upon himself to win his freedom.
“From the time I bought locked as much as the time I bought launched, I wrote letters,” Shaun not too long ago mentioned. “I wrote letters to individuals I didn’t even know. I simply knew that sooner or later — I didn’t know when — that I might be a free particular person.”
Over the 24 years that Shaun spent in jail, he continued to battle for justice. “Keep writing. Keep fighting. Never give up.” That grew to become Shaun’s mantra.
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In 2009, a retired Philadelphia police officer and legal professional obtained considered one of Shaun’s letters. He believed Shaun’s story and took up his case on a professional bono foundation on behalf of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.
One of essentially the most weird elements in Shaun’s conviction was a lacking case file. The police misplaced the 36-page file on the Martinez’s homicide, a file which contained names of all different suspects. The file was misplaced till it mysteriously turned up in May 2017, over 20 years after it first went lacking.
When the file was discovered, an alternate homicide concept got here to gentle. Not solely that, attorneys interviewed the person who accused Shaun of the homicide. Two a long time after making his accusation, he admitted it was all a lie.
Now, at age 43, Shaun is, finally, a free man.
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“It’s been a long struggle, but you can’t give up. That’s why I’m here today.” Amazingly, he’s not bitter: “You know, time heals all wounds.”
A religious Muslim, he says his religion stored him sane. That, and an unimaginable assist staff of associates, household, and professional bono attorneys.
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“I don’t really feel offended. I really feel a bit of disenchanted that the system let me all the way down to a level however I don’t really feel offended, as a result of I assist myself with a pleasant group of individuals. I believed in God, and I believed in myself, and I believed in the those that surrounded me,” he mentioned.
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Now Shaun is most excited to spend time with family and friends, to marry his fiancée who he met in jail, and to see his little brother play basketball.
“I discovered loads in jail,” added Shaun. “I learned… maturity, I learned to respect things, and I learned that family will be there—no matter what—at the end of the day.”
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Share if Shaun’s unimaginable story of perseverance and forgiveness impressed you at this time!
The put up Innocent Kid Freed 24 Yrs After Wrongly Convicted Of Murder — Reveals Why He’s “Not Angry.” appeared first on InspireMore.
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