A man convicted of second-degree murder who spent more than 18 years behind bars was freed Thursday after prosecutors vacated his conviction that was aided by an incorrect witness identification and shoddy police work, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
Sheldon Thomas, 35, was one of three alleged gang members charged with killing 14-year-old Anderson Bercy and wounding another person on Dec. 24, 2004, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, prosecutors said in a statement.
“The evidence indicated that two guns were used and that the shooters were inside a white car. A witness initially identified two men she knew, who did not include defendant Thomas, as being in the car.”
Prosecutors added, “The defendant was arrested based on a witness identification of a different person with the same name — a mistake that was first concealed and then explained away during the proceedings.”
The investigation into Thomas’ case was handled by the office’s Conviction Review Unit, prosecutors said.
They indicated there was poor detective work in the case because a case detective asked to unseal the defendant’s prior arrest so he could use his picture in a photo array. The prior case involved the defendant pointing an inoperable gun at officers and resisting arrest, prosecutors said.
“Before that request was completed, detectives obtained a photo of another Sheldon Thomas from a police database,” prosecutors said. “They showed an array with that photo to the witness, who identified the wrong Thomas as being in the car with 90 percent certainty. Based on her identification, the detectives went to the defendant’s address — not to the address of the Sheldon Thomas whose photo the witness had identified — and arrested him.”
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