First-Degree Murder Charges Dropped Against Two Former Pennsylvania Death Row Prisoners With Innocence Claims

On December 22, 2016, Pennsylvania pros­e­cu­tors dropped first-degree mur­der charges against two for­mer Pennsylvania death row pris­on­ers who have assert­ed their inno­cence for decades. In court­rooms 100 miles apart, Tyrone Moore and James Dennis entered no-con­test pleas to charges of third-degree mur­der, avoid­ing retri­als on the charges that had ini­tial­ly sent the men to death row and paving the way for their release. 

A Luzerne County judge sen­tenced Moore to 20 years and released him from prison for time served fol­low­ing his no con­test plea. He had already served 34 years, 22 of them on death row for a mur­der dur­ing the course of a rob­bery at a vet­eri­nary office. A fed­er­al judge had grant­ed Moore a new tri­al after he pre­sent­ed evi­dence of inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel, includ­ing his lawyer’s fail­ure to inter­view a co-defen­dant who tes­ti­fied in his own tri­al that Moore was not present at or involved in the rob­bery or killing. 

Before enter­ing the plea, Moore reit­er­at­ed that he is ​“whole­heart­ed­ly inno­cent” of the crime, and told the court, ​“I want to be home with my fam­i­ly.” The vic­tim’s fam­i­ly sup­port­ed the plea deal. 

In the sec­ond case, Dennis had spent 25 years on death row for the rob­bery and mur­der of a woman at a trans­porta­tion ter­mi­nal in Philadelphia. A fed­er­al judge over­turned his con­vic­tion in 2013 as a result of mul­ti­ple instances of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, includ­ing sup­press­ing evi­dence point­ing to an alter­nate sus­pect who was a high school class­mate of the vic­tim and oth­er evi­dence sup­port­ing Dennis’ ali­bi. The court called the con­vic­tion ​“a grave mis­car­riage of jus­tice,” say­ing that Dennis had been con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death ​“for a crime in all prob­a­bil­i­ty he did not commit.” 

His attor­ney, Karl Schwartz, told the court, ​“James Dennis entered a no-con­test plea, not a guilty plea, because he main­tains the same posi­tion that he has main­tained for 25 years: that he is inno­cent of this crime. He and his fam­i­ly have made this incred­i­bly dif­fi­cult deci­sion based on his and their strong desire to have him home and free, [in] lieu of poten­tial­ly years of con­tin­u­ing lit­i­ga­tion.” Dennis faces parole for an unre­lat­ed rob­bery con­vic­tion before he can be released.