Texas man got exonerated after spending approximately 34 years in prison for false conviction

A Texas man who was falsely convicted and imprisoned for 34 years for a murder that occurred in the 1980s was exonerated on Thursday. He expressed his happiness and continued to go forward, even if he couldn’t get those years back.

“I’m simply thrilled that today has finally arrived,” remarked 59-year-old Benjamin Spencer.

A Dallas County court approved the district attorney’s plea to drop Spencer’s aggravated robbery charge after Spencer was found guilty of Jeffrey Young’s murder in 1987 during a carjacking. Defense lawyer Cheryl Wattley, who has spent more than 20 years working on Spencer’s case, said, “It is a good day.” “I’m doing my best not to cry.”

Wattley commended John Creuzot, the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney, for conducting a thorough investigation. “Relieved and humbled to help correct this injustice,” Creuzot remarked.

According to Creuzot, witnesses for the prosecution—among them a jailhouse informant hoping for leniency—gave false testimony. He continued by saying that at the time, prosecutors had also neglected to provide the defense access to fingerprint evidence and other pieces of evidence that would have shown Spencer’s innocence.

Fairness Authorities claim that a guy is shot by Sonia Sotomayor’s security detail during an attempted carjacking. Later on, the 1987 conviction was reversed for Spencer, who continued to claim his innocence. However, he was found guilty on a second trial of aggravated robbery of Young and given a life sentence. After the district attorney’s office determined that his constitutional rights had been infringed and that the false witness evidence had prevented him from receiving a fair trial, he was released on bond in 2021.

His conviction was reversed earlier this year by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which remanded the matter to Dallas County. The Conviction Integrity Unit head of the office, Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Garza, stated: “There exists no credible or physical evidence that he was in any way involved in this crime.” Records maintained by The National Registry of Exonerations show that Spencer is among the 60 longest-serving individuals to have been found not guilty.