Philadelphia man shot dead after 29 years wrongfully convicted in prison – NBC10 Philadelphia

A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of multiple murders was shot dead in Philadelphia nearly two years after being released, his family confirmed.

At approximately 2:20 p.m. Friday, Philadelphia police received a call from someone with a gun in the 3000 block of West Lehigh Avenue. When they arrived, they found 62-year-old Christopher Williams suffering from a gunshot wound to his head.

Williams was taken to Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead at 2:27 pm that day.

No arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered.

In 1989, Williams, along with Theopharis Wilson, were convicted of murdering three men who were found shot dead in Philadelphia on the same day.

While Williams was sentenced to death for murder, Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment and prison with no possibility of parole. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a man.

The testimony of two men, one of whom had testified in six of his own murders in exchange for a more lenient sentence, linked Williams and Wilson to the murders.

However, in 2011, one of the men retracted his testimony against Williams and Wilson regarding the 1989 triple murder. One expert concluded, based on the available blood evidence and the condition of the bodies, that the three men had been killed where they were. He was found rather than thrown out of the moving van, as claimed by the two men who testified against Williams and Wilson.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) also found a significant amount of evidence in favor of Williams that had been withheld from the initial trial. This included another suspect’s report and testimony that contradicted the account of the man who testified against Williams. They also found evidence indicating that two of his men who testified against Williams were induced to testify by the feds.

Based on new evidence, Williams was acquitted of a triple-murder conviction in December 2019, and Wilson was exonerated in January 2020.

However, despite this, Williams remained in prison with the Haynesworth conviction. The CIU then reviewed the case and found that the testimony against Williams contradicted the available physical evidence.

On the recommendation of the CIU, Williams was acquitted for the second time on February 9, 2021, and released from prison after 29 years.

In December 2021, Williams was sued by the City of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, 17 police detectives or their property, two former assistant district attorneys, and former district attorney Lynn Abraham. , filed a lawsuit on the grounds of his wrongful conviction.

Williams is survived by a wife, five children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.