Lengthy-imprisoned Brooklyn man Sheldon Thomas freed after practically 20 years over flawed picture line-up

A Brooklyn man wrongly imprisoned for 19 years based mostly on a nasty picture array identification was due in court docket Thursday for a listening to to set him free, the Brooklyn District Lawyer introduced.

Sheldon Thomas, 35, was anticipated to seem after an investigation by the Brooklyn District Lawyer’s Conviction Overview Unit decided he was wrongfully convicted for the Christmas Eve 2004 killing of a 14-year-old boy, stated DA Eric Gonzalez.

Authorities found Thomas was busted regardless of the ID from a set of pictures that didn’t included him.

Thomas “was arrested based mostly on a witness identification of a distinct individual with the identical title — a mistake that was first hid after which defined away throughout the proceedings,” stated Gonzalez.

A listening to within the case was set for Thursday afternoon.

The prosecution was “compromised from the very begin by grave errors and lack of possible trigger to arrest Mr. Thomas,” stated Gonzalez. “He was additional disadvantaged of his due course of rights when the prosecution proceeded even after the inaccurate identification got here to gentle.”

The case could be the thirty fourth conviction vacated following re-investigations by the unit.