New York man Jonathan Fleming is now a free man after he was cleared from a murder case that led to his arrest in 1989.
According to BigStory.Ap.Org, Fleming was arrested in 1989 because of a fatal shooting in NYC although he plead not guilty and attempted to convince everyone that he was on a vacation at Disney World at the time of the deadly shooting.
Reports say that despite the significant number of documents and evidence to support Fleming's explanation, he was still convicted of murder.
Nevertheless, it is never too late to enjoy freedom as Jonathan Fleming has been cleared from the murder case today.
Twenty-five years after being locked in prison, prosecutors now believe that Jonathan Fleming is innocent. The now 51-year-old man tearfully hugged his lawyers and relatives one by one as the judge dismissed the case.
Reports say that a key witness had recanted and that newly found witnesses implicated someone else as the prime suspect. Moreover, prosecutors' review of authorities' files turned up documents supporting Fleming's alibi.
"After 25 years, come hug your mother," Patricia Fleming, the mother of the now free man Jonathan, told his only child after the trial, and the two hugged each other tightly for a few minutes.
"I feel wonderful," Jonathan told the media present. "I've always had faith. I knew that this day would come someday."
New District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said in a statement that after several months of reviewing the documents, he decided to drop the case against Jonathan Fleming because of "key alibi facts that place Fleming in Florida at the time of the murder."
Back in 1989, Fleming already tried to convince authorities, telling them that he had been in Orlando when a friend, Darryl "Black" Rush, was reportedly shot to death in Brooklyn on August 15. However, authorities disputed that Fleming's motivation to kill Rush was a dispute over money.
Although Jonathan Fleming showed sufficient evidence to back his claim i.e. tickets, videos, and postcards from his trip, prosecutors claimed that he could have made a quick round-trip plane jaunt to be in New York. Furthermore, a woman testified that she saw Jonathan shooting Rush early that day. Because of this, Fleming was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and was due to have his first parole hearing soon.
However, after Fleming's 1990 conviction, the eyewitness recanted her testimony, saying that she had lied to police so that they would cut her loose for an unrelated arrest.
Just last year, the defense asked the district attorney's office to review Jonathan's case.
Patricia Fleming, 71, who was allegedly with her son in Orlando at the time of the murder testified at the initial trial. Today, she expressed that she is more than happy that the truth finally prevailed.
"I knew he didn't do it, because I was there," she said. "When they gave my son 25 to life, I thought I would die in that courtroom."
Patricia then added, "I never did give up, because I knew he was innocent."
After today's final hearing, Fleming left the courtroom with an arm around his mother's shoulder. He told the media that he is planning to rebuild his life ahead of him.
"I'm going to go eat dinner with my mother and my family, and I'm going to live the rest of my life," he said.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
