Philadelphia Man Who Called 911 After Witnessing Killing Is Exonerated After 15 Years in Prison

David Sparks, who was convicted as a teenager of a Philadelphia murder he had actually witnessed, was exonerated Monday after serving 15 years in prison. A judge overturned the verdict after new evidence emerged from police files that had never been disclosed.

Sparks was 16 in 2006 when Gary Hall, also a teenager, was shot dead on a street in Nicetown. Sparks had been picked up for a curfew violation the night of the killing. He stayed at the scene and called 911, and a recording captures his voice telling the dispatcher: "Somebody got shot. He's possibly dying. Please could you hurry up. Please."

Court filings show Hall's friends told police they believed Ivan Simmons was responsible, because Simmons' younger brother had been seen arguing with Hall minutes before the shooting. Simmons was later shot to death in what Hall's friends told police was revenge. A friend of Simmons then shot Hall's cousin in retaliation. Police disregarded those accounts and arrested Sparks instead.

The District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit and the Pennsylvania Innocence Project reviewed the police file and found extensive material that had not been turned over. It included ballistic evidence showing the gun used to kill Hall had also been used in another killing, which police believed Simmons had committed four days earlier. The file also held a statement from an eyewitness to Hall's killing, later arrested in one of the retaliatory shootings, who said Simmons shooting Hall had started the cycle of violence.

"Based on that evidence, the court is convinced that the verdict should be overturned," Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio said. He noted that Sparks' was the sixth murder conviction he had thrown out in three days. "That's gotta be a world record."

Sparks waived a jury and was tried in 2008 before Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper. The case relied largely on two sisters, aged 12 and 14 at the time, who saw the shooting from inside a Chinese takeout store; their accounts shifted between their first statements, the preliminary hearing and the trial. A third witness testified that detectives wrote down a statement and made him sign it, saying, "Those are not my own words." Sparks' girlfriend testified that she saw Simmons shoot Hall, but the judge did not credit her account because of her relationship with Sparks. He was sentenced to life without parole.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project took the case in 2013. Attorney Jim Figorski joined when Sparks became eligible for resentencing after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life-without-parole sentences for minors. The ballistics and other evidence surfaced only when the district attorney's office handed over its case file. Prosecutors said it was unclear why the material never reached trial prosecutor James Berardinelli. Neither he nor homicide Detective Donald Marano, who handled the case, could be reached for comment.

"It really proved what David has always said, what the neighborhood has always said, was the truth," said Nilam Sanghvi of the Innocence Project. Sparks' mother, Tameeka Sparks, said neighbors had long told her they knew her son was innocent but would not come forward. Sparks plans first to surprise his 16-year-old daughter with the news and then, he hopes, attend an Eagles game. His brother, Dominic White, said: "This is past due. We're burnt out. There's nothing to celebrate."

Monday's rulings were part of a run of reversals. Last week DiClaudio tossed out four other convictions, including that of Eddie Ramirez in the 1995 murder of Joyce Dennis, who won a new trial after DNA evidence on the murder weapon and witness recantations came to light. Three of the six cases involved former homicide detective Philip Nordo, who was convicted of raping informants during investigations that produced at least 15 wrongful convictions. Also on Monday, Reafeal Fields, convicted in the 2010 killing of Michael Smith, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and accepted a 21- to 42-year sentence. Smith's mother, Tyra, said she felt the city had failed.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose policy of disclosing homicide files to petitioners has revealed undisclosed evidence in dozens of cases, called the outcomes the result of "police officers or prosecutors who think they can do what they want." Hall's family did not attend Sparks' hearing but told the court in a statement that the proceeding was "retraumatizing."