“We were never criminals”: ​​two New Yorkers acquitted after more than 20 years in prison for the murder of a Toulouse resident

Le meurtre de Jean Casse avait eu lieu à Manhattan, proche du mythique Times Square. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Condamnés pour le meurtre d'un touriste Toulousain de 71 ans à Manhattan le soir du réveillon du Nouvel an 1987, deux New-Yorkais ont été disculpés après avoir passé plus de 20 ans derrière les barreaux. 

New York justice announced this Wednesday, January 31, that it had overturned the murder convictions of two African-Americans, reports the New York Times. 

Eric Smokes and David Warren were convicted in July 1987 for the murder of a 71-year-old tourist from Toulouse on New Year's Eve 1987 in Manhattan. The victim, named Jean Casse, on vacation with his wife, had been attacked and robbed before being violently pushed to the ground. He died a few days later from his injuries. 

The two men, aged 16 and 19 at the time of the facts, have always proclaimed their innocence, but justice only reopened its investigation in 2022 with a view to a possible revision of the judgment. It was ultimately thanks to the pleading of an African-American elected official from the Democratic Party that the convictions and indictments of Eric Smokes and David Warren were canceled. The two men were released on parole in 2011 and 2007 after spending 24 and 20 years in prison respectively. 

Decades wasted for an unjust conviction

"Eric Smokes and David Warren lost decades of their lives over an unjust conviction […] It’s never too late to revisit old convictions, because everyone in New York deserves fair justice based on the law,” New York State Attorney for Manhattan District Court Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

According to the prosecutor, the prosecution's testimonies turned out to be either false or contradictory, or given under duress. One of the witnesses who identified them later admitted to having lied, for fear of being incriminated himself. The two men, however, had an alibi according to which they were not at the scene of the crime the night of Jean-Casse's death. 

At the end of the hearing, the judge told Eric Smokes and David Warren: "You can leave knowing that you are no longer criminals. To which Warren replied: "We never were. 

A growing number of overturned convictions

In recent years, a growing number of convictions handed down in the 1990s – when rising crime led New York City police departments to make arrests at at all costs – have been cancelled. The vast majority of people whose names have been cleared are black and Hispanic.

The New York Times states that since 1989, approximately 124 murder convictions have been overturned in New York, which represents a significant portion of the 1,317 vacated convictions nationwide, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. A post-conviction justice unit was recently created with this in mind.