New DNA Testing, Previously Withheld Evidence, Demonstrate Man Was Wrongfully Convicted of 1984 Springfield Murder

UPDATE 9/24/24: After 40 years in prison and five previous attempts to overturn his wrongful conviction, Edward Wright was back in court on September 24, 2024, with hope. Radha Natarajan and co-counsel, Stephanie Hartung, were fighting to overturn the wrongful conviction of Edward Wright based on new DNA evidence and evidence that was wrongfully withheld by the government. It was a packed courtroom, with loved ones, Exoneree Network members, advocates, and our incredible legal team that includes attorneys from Skadden and Quinn Emanuel. We don’t know what will happen next, but we cannot stop fighting for justice for our community, even with tragedies, setbacks, resistance, and all the myths that permeate our criminal legal system.

 
 

On Wrongful Conviction Day 2023, Lawyers File Motion for New Trial for Edward Wright Who Has Served 39 Years in Prison for a Murder He Did Not Commit

 
 

The New England Innocence Project, along with attorneys from the international law firms, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, announce that they have today filed a motion for new trial at the Hampden County Superior Court on behalf of Edward Wright, 61, seeking to overturn Mr. Wright’s decades-old conviction for a murder he did not commit. New DNA evidence from key items connected to the murder, police reports kept from Mr. Wright that point to other suspects and show that a police officer lied at trial, and new expert analyses demonstrating the unreliability of the forensic evidence presented at trial, all support Mr. Wright’s innocence, affirming that he was wrongly convicted for the 1984 murder of his friend, Penny Anderson, in Springfield, MA.

In 1985 a predominantly white jury convicted Mr. Wright, a Black man, of this murder, leading to a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Mr. Wright has steadfastly maintained his innocence during his 39-year incarceration and has been fighting this unjust conviction through every legal avenue available to him. However, it was not until recently that this new evidence came to light, evidence never reviewed before by any court, supporting this (his Sixth) Motion for New Trial.

The filing of this motion for new trial occurs on International Wrongful Conviction Day (October 2), a day to raise awareness of the existence and prevalence of wrongful convictions. Research on wrongful convictions illustrates that police and prosecutorial misconduct, flawed or misleading forensic evidence, racial bias, ineffective counsel, and the unavailability of DNA testing at trial are leading reasons why innocent people are wrongfully imprisoned. Each of these factors tainted Mr. Wright’s conviction.

Mr. Wright’s motion demonstrates that for decades, the Commonwealth withheld important police reports that corroborate Mr. Wright’s assertion that someone else committed this murder. These reports show that the crime scene was contaminated and that, while no motive was ever established for Mr. Wright to harm Ms. Anderson, others had strong motive to commit this murder. In addition, the reports provide proof that a Springfield police officer presented false testimony at Mr. Wright’s trial and that the Commonwealth has since made false statements in court filings.

Mr. Wright’s motion also presents new DNA testing and analyses not available at the time of Mr. Wright’s trial. That testing excludes Mr. Wright from key pieces of evidence – including the clothing worn by the victim at the time of her murder and a washcloth with blood that could have come from the assailant. In a violent crime such as this, the absence of Mr. Wright’s DNA on items connected to the murder, and the presence of an unknown male’s DNA on those same items, strongly suggests that someone else committed this crime. In addition, one suspect never thoroughly investigated by police had threatened to harm the victim the night she was murdered and has since confessed to murdering her twice. The DNA evidence also supports new expert analyses that demonstrate that the opinions presented by an inexperienced assistant chemist at Mr. Wright’s trial were inaccurate and unreliable.

The motion asks the court to evaluate all of this substantial new evidence of innocence against the backdrop of Mr. Wright’s 1984 trial, which was plagued by demonstrable racial bias, ineffective assistance from Mr. Wright’s trial counsel, and substandard police work, collectively resulting in a fundamentally unjust conviction.

The Hampden County District Attorney’s Office will now have an opportunity to review the new evidence and determine if it will agree to the motion or fight it. If the District Attorney’s Office opposes the motion, Mr. Wright has asked the Court to hold an evidentiary hearing to examine all of the new evidence of innocence and grant him a new trial.

“We are hopeful that, after an open-minded review, the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office and its new Conviction Integrity Unit will see that there are substantial grounds for Mr. Wright to receive a new trial,” said Stephanie Hartung, Senior Staff Attorney at the New England Innocence Project (NEIP). NEIP’s Executive Director, Radha Natarajan, added, “Whether by agreement or through a court decision, we look forward to seeing Mr. Wright exonerated after all this time and being able to finally reunite with his remaining family.”

Mr. Wright’s co-counsel, Nigel Tamton said, “My team at Skadden has been honored to work with the New England Innocence Project on preparing Mr. Wright’s Sixth Motion For New Trial and, we hope, helping Mr. Wright obtain justice after nearly 40 years of wrongful incarceration.”

Mr. Wright’s co-counsel, Isaac Saidel-Goley said, “Mr. Wright has spent four decades fighting to recover his most fundamental human right – his freedom. Today, my co-counsel and I are honored to present overwhelming evidence of Mr. Wright’s innocence. We are optimistic that the Commonwealth will support Mr. Wright’s fight for exoneration; and we are confident that, at long last, justice will be served.”

On his fight for freedom, Mr. Wright said: “Since I was first arrested at age 22 and this nightmare began, I’ve lost not only my freedom, but also so many family members and friends. These are people that I’ll never see again. When you’re incarcerated, it’s an endless battle to be the person you want to be instead of the person they try to make you to be inside the prison walls. I’ve tried to preserve some semblance of my humanity—have tried to learn the law, to help fix the wrongs in prison to help not just myself but others. And I’ve never stopped trying to prove my innocence. But after so many denials, I am hopeful that a judge will finally look at all the evidence in my case – not just the horrific facts of the murder. I just want the truth to finally come out so a court can do the right thing and I can live out the rest of my life in freedom.”