A man has been exonerated after being behind bars for a decade for a 2012 murder after witnesses recanted their statements, officials said. His case is one of several that have been overturned after the former Philadelphia detective who was involved in them was found guilty of misconduct, sexually assaulting witnesses and other crimes.
Neftali Velasquez, 38, was released from jail Monday after it was ruled his constitutional rights were violated by the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia during his trial back in 2016.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania submitted the request to dismiss the charges against Velasquez due to a lack of reliable evidence.
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All three witnesses involved in the original case dropped their accusations against Velasquez.
"When you have a prosecution that relies on hiding exculpatory evidence and misleading evidence presented to the jury, the result is innocent people being convicted, and there is a strong belief that is what happened in this case," Karl Schwartz, Velasquez's lawyer, said.
Velasquez had been convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole in 2012 in connection to the death of Domingo Rivera.
His lawyers told NBC10 that Velasquez is a family man who is looking forward to getting back to his life outside of a prison cell.
Velasquez's case is among the 75 in connection to disgraced former Philadelphia homicide detective Philip Nordo that are under investigation by the District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit.
How the detective's misconduct set Velasquez free
Nordo was found guilty on a slew of charges, including sexually assaulting witnesses and informants by a grand jury in 2019.
Nordo, 56, was sentenced to up to 49 years in prison.
For Velasquez's case, Nordo's misconduct while getting and interviewing a key witness was not shared with the defense team properly.
A second witness had admitted that she did not see the alleged shooter's face during the 2012 murder of Rivera.
So far there have been seven exonerations, three re-sentencings and more new trials underway for cases connected to Nordo due to the efforts of the District Attorney's Office.
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