Daniel Gwynn was convicted and later sentenced to death for a 1994 arson murder in West Philadelphia. But now he has been exonerated 30 years later, as announced by the District Attorney’s Office.
Gwynn, 54, was exonerated and released from Pennsylvania state prison after the district attorney’s office said it had found flaws in the 1994 first-degree murder investigation.
“Daniel Gwynn’s exoneration frees a man who is probably innocent“said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
“Sadly, it also exemplifies an era of inaccurate and sometimes corrupt policing and prosecution, which has broken trust in our communities to this day,” he continued.
On November 20, 1994, a homeless woman named Marsha Smith died after a fire broke out in a vacant building. in the 4500 block of Chestnut Street in West Philadelphia.
Besides, Witnesses told police he started the fire. Police also told the prosecutor that witnesses picked out Gwynn from a series of photographs, but the photographs were never admitted into evidence during Gwynn’s trial, the district attorney’s office said.
Information about an alternative suspect, who was identified by witnesses to police, was never given to Gwynn or presented during his prosecution, violating his constitutional rights.
The district attorney’s office says witnesses identified Gwynn to police as “Rick” from a series of photographs used in a separate murder investigation that took place in the same building three days before the fire.
The photo arrays in police files did not include Gwynn’s photo and were never turned over to his defense attorney, according to the statement.
Witnesses who testified in the first murder investigation were threatened by the defendant before the fire broke out, which the district attorney’s office considered “critical” information.
“Most critically, the defendant in the other murder had threatened to have his associates kill witnesses if they cooperated against him in the other trial,” the district attorney’s office said.
This information was never revealed to the defense during Gwynn’s prosecution.according to the statement.
The defendant in the other case was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, which he is currently serving, the district attorney’s office said. “Today is primarily for us a day of tremendous relief and sadness, a guy like him, an innocent soul, spent so much time awaiting execution languishing in jail,” said Gwynn’s defense attorney, Karl Schwartz.
The 54-year-old chronicled his prison journey through art which can be found on a website called Art for Justice .
Art for Justice’s Anne Marie Kirk befriended Gwynn more than 20 years ago and reacted to her release.
“This should never have happened and the reason it happened was because too many people turned the other way at the injustices that happened not only to Danny but to other people,” he said. “This is a wake-up call for anyone who believes in the death penalty because Daniel was on death row and he’s not the only one who was on death row.”
The district attorney’s office said the family of the victim in the case was notified of Gwynn’s release.but did not oppose his release.
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