Jonathan Fleming, the Brooklyn, N.Y., man who recently walked free after spending almost 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, now wants $162 million from the city, the Associated Press reports. The 52-year-old has filed a notice of claim to inform the city of his intention to sue.
"I think this is the first step toward getting him what he rightfully deserves," his lawyer, Taylor Koss, told the newswire.
Fleming was convicted for a 1989 shooting in Brooklyn, despite the fact that plane tickets, witness testimony and other evidence showed that he was on a family vacation in Florida at the time of the shooting. The prosecution claimed that he had flown back to his hometown to commit the crime, with a woman confirming that she had seen him at the scene.
The same witness later recanted, however, and upon review, Florida hotel receipts from up to five hours before the shooting showed up on the prosecutor’s radar, confirming Fleming’s alibi.
According to AP, the receipts were found in Fleming’s pocket when he was arrested, but officers did not release them to his defense lawyer. Officers also neglected to give his lawyer the letter from Orlando police detailing how employees at the Florida hotel where Fleming stayed recalled seeing him there around the time of the murder.
This caused Fleming’s “suffering in prison for nearly 25 years for a crime that he didn't commit," the claim notes.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.