Court Overturns 1985 Springfield Murder Conviction Based on Official Misconduct, Including Withheld Evidence and False Testimony
Edward Wright Has Been Incarcerated for 40 Years for a Murder He Did Not Commit
Springfield, MA – On Friday, April 11, 2025, Hampden County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Bucci overturned the conviction of Edward Wright, who has been wrongfully incarcerated for more than 40 years for a Springfield murder he did not commit. Judge Bucci found that the prosecution knowingly and intentionally withheld “significant” exculpatory evidence of a break-in to the crime scene and that a detective gave “false testimony” at trial concerning “evidence central to the prosecution’s case, as it was the only forensic evidence tying [Mr. Wright] to the blood in the apartment.”
Mr. Wright was wrongfully convicted of the 1984 murder of his friend, Penny Anderson, in her Springfield, Massachusetts apartment. Over the last 40 years, he has always maintained his innocence and has never stopped fighting to overturn his wrongful conviction. As recognized by the Court, “there was no credible evidence of [Mr. Wright] having a motive” to commit this crime and the case against him was “circumstantial and not overwhelming.”
On Thursday, April 17, 2025, the New England Innocence Project hosted a press conference to discuss the recent decision to overturn our client Edward Wright’s murder conviction and to share next steps in the case.
This was Mr. Wright’s sixth motion for new trial, filed on October 2, 2023, International Wrongful Conviction Day, by Mr. Wright’s lawyers from the New England Innocence Project and pro bono attorneys from two international law firms.
In his motion, Mr. Wright presented new evidence never heard by any court before that:
the Commonwealth withheld significant exculpatory evidence from him for 36 years, including a police report documenting a break-in to the victim’s apartment while it was still an active crime scene that led to the contamination of key evidence used against Mr. Wright;
a police officer gave false testimony at Mr. Wright’s trial;
new DNA testing excluded Mr. Wright from key items connected to the murder;
forensic experts confirmed the unreliability of evidence presented against Mr. Wright at his trial; and
every Black male juror was excluded from sitting on the jury and the prosecution played up racial stereotypes at trial, factors known to increase the risk of wrongful conviction.
Through five previous motions filed between 1986 and 2012 and all denied by the courts, Mr. Wright presented substantial evidence suggesting that the victim’s ex-boyfriend, Allen Smalls (now deceased), committed this murder, including evidence that Smalls threatened the victim the night she was murdered, lied about his alibi, attempted to sell a knife the day after the victim’s stabbing, and then confessed twice to having committed the murder.
“The legal system failed Mr. Wright when he was wrongfully convicted in 1985,” said Nigel Tamton, a member of Mr. Wright’s legal team. “Then it failed him again and again, over many decades. We know the system is imperfect. We need friends, lawyers, and most importantly, human beings like Mr. Wright who will not rest until justice is done, notwithstanding the obstacles in our way.”
A Review of the Evidence
After holding an evidentiary hearing and reviewing 238 exhibits, Judge Bucci granted Mr. Wright’s Sixth Motion for New Trial on April 11, 2025. Judge Bucci found that there had been a break-in to the victim’s apartment while it still was an active crime scene, something the jury was never made aware of. It was only after this break-in that investigators noticed and collected so-called shoeprint evidence with blood, the only forensic evidence from the scene used against Mr. Wright at his trial. The prosecution hid the evidence of the break-in from Mr. Wright before his trial, and when the Detective who discovered the break-in testified at Mr. Wright’s 1985 trial, he falsely told the jury that only police officers had been in the apartment during the collection of the evidence.
In his decision, Judge Bucci found that the prosecution’s failure to disclose evidence of the break-in was “knowing and intentional” and that the Detective’s “blatantly false testimony on this key aspect of the prosecution’s case was intentional….” The Court held that, if Mr. Wright had learned of this evidence before his trial, he could have challenged the only forensic evidence from the scene, impeached the Detective, “raise[d] serious questions about his credibility, and point[ed] out that the investigation was flawed due to the compromised integrity of the crime scene evidence.”
The Court also found that Mr. Wright’s new DNA evidence was reliable and excluded him from several pieces of evidence collected from the scene of the murder, including a bloody washcloth. Nevertheless, the Court did not grant the motion on this ground upon finding that these items of evidence did not play a role in Mr. Wright’s original trial.
About Mr. Wright
Although Mr. Wright has been in prison in Massachusetts for the last four decades, he has maintained close contact with his family and loved ones and has had a positive impact on the people with whom he has been incarcerated. While in prison, he dedicated himself to learning the legal system that so tragically failed him. He uses his knowledge to help others challenge their convictions and improve conditions inside the prison walls. Mr. Wright has led efforts to ensure that people in prison have access to mail and food that meets their medical needs. Additionally, after winning a judgment against the Department of Corrections for civil rights violations, he used the funds to pay for his own DNA testing to help prove his innocence. Mr. Wright has been married since 2009 and looks forward to continuing his life with his wife and family in freedom.
“For more than 40 years, the Commonwealth thwarted Mr. Wright’s efforts to prove his innocence by withholding critical evidence, even going so far as to tell the Supreme Judicial Court that there was no evidence of a break-in when it was in the police file the entire time,” said Stephanie Hartung, Mr. Wright’s attorney from the New England Innocence Project. “Now, finally, with the benefit of the complete record in the case—including proof of a faulty police investigation, a contaminated crime scene, and false testimony presented to the jury—the Court was in a position to recognize the prolonged injustice of Mr. Wright’s case.”
“Eddie is an inspiration,” said Isaac Saidel-Goley, Mr. Wright’s pro bono attorney. “For 40 years, he has endured unimaginable injustice. He has responded with positivity and humanity. Through it all, he lifted others, stood firm in his truth, and never gave up the fight. That fight is not yet over, but today we celebrate a victory — hard-fought and long-overdue.”
Mr. Wright called the news that his conviction had finally been overturned “bittersweet.” “There is bitterness for all the years I’ve lost in prison,” he said, “but also sweetness in the possibility of freedom.”
Next Steps
Mr. Wright’s wrongful murder conviction has been overturned but he is not free. His freedom has always been and still is our first priority, so that is our next step. We have asked for a hearing to seek Mr. Wright’s release from prison, but we do not yet have a date for that hearing.
In addition, despite the strength of the Judge’s ruling, the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office has decided to appeal this decision. In a recent hearing, the prosecutor said that Mr. Wright’s case is “not re-triable.” We agree that it is not retriable, but more importantly, we believe it should not be retried because Mr. Wright is innocent.
