Innocent man free at last

A PHILADELPHIA man who spent more than two decades behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit is a free man – 17 years after another man confessed to the crime.

John Miller was released this week after 22 years in prison. Surrounded by family outside the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy, north of Philadelphia, he said it felt “surreal”.

In 1998, a jury found Miller (pictured) guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in a parking lot two years prior, even though there was no physical evidence of his involvement.

The key witness against him confessed multiple times to being the real shooter and even sent a letter to Miller’s mother apologising for lying.

The witness, David Williams, recanted his statement at Miller’s preliminary hearing in 1997 and denied it again at trial a year later, but the jury voted to convict Miller anyway. Prosecutors did not say whether they planned to charge Williams, or if they believed his confession that he killed Anthony Mullen.

The courts denied Miller’s appeals, citing procedural issues, and alleging that Williams was not believable when he denied his statement and admitted to the crime.

Miller, now 44, contacted the Pennsylvania Innocence Project about eight years ago to help with an appeal.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office agreed with Miller’s defence team that his prosecution was flawed and his conviction shouldn’t stand.