“I’ve tried to move on but you can’t just move on from 23 yrs. of deprivation" - Black Man Exonerated After Wrongful Murder Conviction
One year ago today, Everton Wagstaffe and Reginald Connor were exonerated when a Brooklyn appeals court ruled that they had been wrongfully convicted in 1993 after a 16-year-old girl in Brooklyn, New York, was kidnapped and found dead on New Year’s Day 1992.
Everton and Reginald were convicted based on the testimony of an informant who said that she’d witnessed the two men grab the female victim and force her into a car.
The Innocence Project consulted on the case and aided in testing foreign hairs found on the victim’s body, which excluded both Everton and Reginald of the crime. Additionally, it was revealed that prosecutors had buried exculpatory evidence in the case. Based on this and other new evidence, Everton was released from prison on September 23, 2014. Connor had been earlier released on paroled in 2004. Both men were fully exonerated on July 27, 2015. [MORE]