They had the wrong guy … 25 years ago.
Jonathan Fleming, 52, was arrested for a NYC killing in 1989 while he was on a family trip in Disney World. On Tuesday, Fleming has started filing papers to sue the city for $162 Million says his lawyer. He was put in prison for almost 25 years for a crime that he didn’t commit. “I think this is the first step toward getting him what he rightfully deserves,” his lawyer Taylor Koss said.
Fleming was freed and his conviction was dismissed in April when the Brooklyn’s district attorney said that he had a valid alibi. When Fleming was accused of shooting a man in August 1989, after he showed proof that he was on vacation with his family in Orlando, Florida, prosecutors believed that he had flown back and forth from NYC to FL to commit the crime. Although Fleming had plane tickets, and videos to prove he wasn’t in NY a woman testified against him and said she saw him commit the crime.
After that witness revoked her testimony, investigators found other witnesses which pointed to someone else as the gunman. Police also found a receipt in Fleming’s pocket which showed that he had paid for his hotel reservation five minutes before the shooting, however this evidence was never given to his defense lawyer.
Once Fleming was released, an online crowd-funding campaign raised almost $50,000 for him.
Zalika Cuffy-Scott