A Pennsylvania judge overturned the convictions of three Black men who have served more than two decades in prison for the 1997 murder of an elderly woman as newly uncovered DNA evidence pointed to an unknown assailant and their potential innocence.
Derrick Chappell, 41, Morton Johnson, 44, and Samuel Grasty, 47, remain locked up despite the March 31 ruling by Delaware County Judge Mary Alice Brennan, who granted their motion for a new trial but stopped short of setting them free.
Known as the “Chester Trio,” the group of men was sentenced to life in prison after they were found guilty in separate trials in 2000 and 2001 for the 1997 killing of 70-year-old Henrietta Nickens in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors have a month to decide whether to appeal the judge’s ruling, while a bail hearing is scheduled for May 23, which could potentially set the convicted trio free after nearly 25 years.
The men have always maintained their innocence despite their convictions on second-degree murder charges and other crimes.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said his office was reviewing what action to take following the judge’s ruling, while law enforcement officials planned to sit down in the coming days to discuss whether to appeal or bring the case again.
Last year, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, the defendants filed a motion to overturn their convictions based on new biological testing conducted in 2021, which suggested an unknown perpetrator was responsible for Nickens’ death.
In vacating the convictions, the judge rejected arguments by prosecutors that the new DNA evidence did not alter the facts known during the three trials.
Grasty’s defense attorney Paul Casteleiro said the ruling served as vindication for all three men.
“This order means so much in that it says this court believes that these guys would be acquitted, they’re innocent,” Casteleiro told CNN. “That’s…
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