DA drops murder case against man who spent 19 years in prison for death of his cousin; had been convicted in part on work by controversial Boston detective

2 years ago 371

The Suffolk County District Attorney's bureau reports it's formally dropped the execution lawsuit against Shaun Jenkins for the decease of his relative Stephen successful Dorchester successful 2001.

The DA's bureau said it recovered "errors and misconduct" successful the archetypal lawsuit against him - which relied heavy connected the enactment of past BPD Detective Daniel Keeler, whose vocation might present beryllium characterized arsenic checkered.

In a statement, the DA's bureau says its predecessors withheld accusation from Jenkins's attorneys that mightiness person bolstered his lawsuit that helium didn't termination his cousin:

Among the items that the Commonwealth knew and did not disclose to the defendant: the unfortunate was successful telephone interaction with his cause supplier, Mike White, respective times passim the day and evening of his death; that the unfortunate owed White a important debt; and that White was the past idiosyncratic Stephen called astir 20 minutes earlier his shooting death. White lived little than 2 blocks distant from the execution determination and had a convulsive history. All of this accusation unneurotic would person been adjuvant to the suspect for a Third-Party Culprit defence (as in, idiosyncratic different than the suspect killed the victim) oregon thing called a Bowden defence (an allegation that the constabulary probe was insufficient). These defenses are often proffered successful tandem but are abstracted and chiseled from each other.

Additionally, the Commonwealth ne'er disclosed, until recently, that Detective Keeler had paid a cardinal witnesser $100 to attest earlier the expansive jury. This witnesser had been unwilling to attest anterior to the payment. Despite a circumstantial find petition by the suspect for immoderate promises, rewards, oregon inducements, this was ne'er disclosed. The suspect was incapable to cross-examine this cardinal witnesser and question his credibility regarding an implied outgo for his testimony.

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