A misleading lineup photo led to man’s 18-year prison sentence; he is finally freed
The prosecutor's report claimed that when the witness incorrectly identified Sheldon Thomas during three in-person lineups, prosecutors likely used an untrustworthy witness and failed to disclose false police testimony.
Thursday marked the moment a long-imprisoned Black man could finally consider himself free following a wrongful conviction that stemmed from a deceptive photo lineup nearly two decades ago.
Sheldon Thomas, 35, wrapped his arm around his grandmother’s shoulder as he exited a Brooklyn courtroom — something he hadn’t been able to do in 18 years, The New York Times reported.
Moments before, a prosecutor from the Brooklyn district attorney’s office outlined the lies, deceptions and dismissals by those in positions of authority that convinced a jury to convict Thomas of murder.
For a Black man charged and given a 25-years-to-life prison sentence, it was something he always anticipated, clinging to his faith along the way.
“I’ve waited a long time for this day to happen,” Thomas said in court Thursday, The Times reported, “and there’s so many times that I was in my cell, I would think of this moment — what I would say, who would be there.”
He’s already forgiven the prosecutors and the judge who cost him nearly two decades of his life, he says, noting “God will judge them, just as he has judged me right now.”
Jurors convicted Thomas for the murder of 14-year-old Anderson Bercy, who was killed on Christmas Eve 2004 when people in a car shot at six others on a Brooklyn street corner; a man was wounded.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez claimed Thursday that Thomas had been “repeatedly harassed” by detectives for months following a prior arrest for allegedly pointing an inoperable weapon at officers.
Following Bercy’s murder, investigators reportedly focused on him and found a photograph of a man with the same name whose address was in the same precinct, The Times reported. Authorities prompted a witness to select the wrong image from an array of six before apprehending the Thomas they wanted.
Thomas denied being in Brooklyn the night of the shooting. Still, the prosecutor’s office report claimed that the witness incorrectly identified him during three in-person lineups and its office at the time likely failed to disclose false police testimony.
Despite claims made in earlier years by detectives, government attorneys, the trial judge and an appeal panel, the prosecutor’s office admitted in its report that the other man in the photo array and Thomas did not resemble one another.
They mentioned how 32 law students of color examined a photo of Thomas before looking at the images, in a research commissioned by the defense. Thomas was not in the array, per 27 accounts.
The district attorney’s office said this week that everyone involved in the case — detectives, prosecutors and the judge of the initial trial — knew from the start that the Sheldon Thomas in the photo array wasn’t the person they wanted. Still, they proceeded.
Prosecutors claim that the lead detective, Robert Reedy, conceded under cross-examination at a pretrial hearing held a year and a half after Thomas’ arrest that he had given false testimony regarding the photo array. During another round of pretrial proceedings, a different detective acknowledged that Thomas informed them he was not the guy in the picture.
Given that the men looked similar, and the police had additional proof supporting their suspicions, the judge determined that the incorrect man’s picture had no bearing on the case. A jury ultimately convicted Thomas of charges that included second-degree and attempted murder, and a co-defendant was acquitted.
Thomas’ case marked the 34th conviction that the Brooklyn district attorney’s expanded conviction review unit had overturned after reexaminations.
Gonzalez told reporters Thursday that there were no victors, noting that Thomas spent nearly 19 years in prison, and “there’s still a 14-year-old boy who lost his life.”
Thomas seemingly agreed, saying the justice system deceived Bercy’s family for decades.
“It’s not just my life that was ripped apart by the due-process breakdowns and the miscarriage of justice,” Thomas said, The Times reported, “it was them as well.”
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