‘You Call This Evidence’ Three Philadelphia Men Are Finally Free After 28 Years In Prison Following Unjust Murder Convictions

Philadelphia prison gates opened for three men this week after nearly 30 years behind bars for a killing prosecutors now say rested on unreliable testimony and a faulty timeline.

Jermal Shuler, Marc Brittingham, and Rasheed Turner lost most of their adult lives after convictions connected them to the 1997 stabbing death of 73 year old Essie May Davis inside a Philadelphia row house.

Davis was discovered dead on November 10, 1997 after relatives became alarmed when she stopped answering calls. According to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors leaned heavily on one witness who claimed the men were near the property during the weekend of the killing.

A medical examiner reinforced that timeline during trial testimony and used the estimated time of death to strengthen the witness account presented to jurors. Later forensic reviews challenged those findings and shifted the estimated window of death by roughly one full day.

No DNA or forensic material connected the three men to the crime scene. Jurors still returned guilty verdicts that sent all three into Pennsylvania prisons for decades.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit later reopened the matter and reexamined evidence presented during trial. Investigators uncovered serious flaws surrounding the estimated time of death shown to jurors in 1998.

Independent forensic specialists later concluded Davis likely died much later than prosecutors originally argued in court. That change dismantled the timeline carrying the prosecution’s case.

After the timing collapsed, prosecutors lost the central structure supporting the guilty verdicts. Defense lawyers argued the remaining material no longer justified keeping the convictions in place.

Judges eventually vacated the convictions, clearing the way for the men to leave custody after almost three decades behind bars. Emotional reunions unfolded outside correctional facilities as relatives embraced men who entered prison in their teens and early twenties.

Turner later described losing years that can never be restored. Brittingham left custody one day later because paperwork delays slowed his release.

Uncertainty surrounding the original prosecution still hangs over the case. Authorities have not announced whether further action will follow against anyone connected to the earlier convictions.

Philadelphia prosecutors have increasingly revisited older murder cases involving unreliable witness accounts and flawed forensic conclusions. Multiple reviews during recent years have already led to overturned convictions across the city.

Jurors who heard the case during the late 1990s never saw evidence now unraveling the prosecution timeline presented during trial. Three men once condemned to spend life behind bars are free while uncertainty surrounding Essie May Davis’ killing still lingers.