Brightline grants wish of wrongly convicted man freed after 31 years
Thomas Raynard James officially became a free man on April 27, when a judge vacated his life sentence from a 1991 murder conviction.
He was 23 when he faced a first-degree murder charge, accused of killing a Coconut Grove man in a 1990 robbery attempt. He’s been in prison 31 years.
But the victim’s stepdaughter, who identified James as the robber, last month recanted her eyewitness testimony. James had the same name as another suspect, who was accused by other witnesses and anonymous tips. And James’ fingerprints didn’t match those found at the murder scene.
Now, the 55-year-old is a free man — and wants to experience life outside of a cell.
One of James’ first wishes upon his release was to ride a Brightline train, and he checked that off his list Wednesday afternoon as he rode from Miami to Fort Lauderdale on the 2:48 p.m. train, and then from Fort Lauderdale back to Miami on the 4:25 p.m. train.
“In prison we share information, and it was said that a train was being constructed to eventually go from Miami to Orlando,” James said Wednesday at the Brightline station in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
“And guys were saying, ‘Yeah, you’re going to be able to go to Orlando in a matter of minutes,’ ” James said. “So I’m like, “Brightline, yeah, I wanna check it out.’ I heard they actually had done it, not going to Orlando, but that was in the works. But I did hear the Brightline train was up and running so that’s one of the things I wanted to do. And I did it.”
James was joined on his ride by about two dozen family members and Brightline officials.
James said he’s not angry about his incarceration.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I’m not bitter. I’m not angry. I realize that the system
is broken and because I recognize it and apparently nobody else has, I feel it’s my duty, I owe it to society and my community to try to right it. So I’m going to work on that.
“I’ve actually written a book that will be coming out soon entitled, ‘If the Walls Could Talk,’ with a subtitle, ‘Would You Listen?’ And it’s laying out some of those things that’s caused the Florida criminal justice system to become an injustice system. The world needs to read about it, and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.”
After his ride back to Miami, James and his family were scheduled to be taken to Wednesday’s Game 2 of the Miami Heat-Philadelphia 76ers best-of-seven
second-round playoff series at FTX Arena by Brightline+ shuttles. James, who was named an honorary conductor on the Brightline ride, will be named an honorary captain at center court before the game and spotlighted during an in-game break.
James said he’s kept up with the Heat since he’s been in prison.
“I’ve definitely been following them,” he said with a smile. “Big fan.”
His favorite Heat player? Udonis Haslem.
Only James’ sentence has been vacated, but his conviction may be overturned in the future as well.
Katherine Fernandez Rundle, state attorney for Miami-Dade County, recently said the case didn’t
have sufficient evidence to keep James in prison. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has filed a motion seeking to vacate the conviction.
The Innocence Project of Florida had rejected his case twice because it felt it didn’t have enough evidence to overturn the conviction.
An article in GQ Magazine, combined with the efforts of attorney Natlie Figgers, eventually started the ball rolling that earned James his freedom.
The case was taken up by the Justice Project, the arm of the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office that reviews potential wrongful convictions.
James was accused of being the triggerman in a robbery gone wrong at
a home in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. He was accused of shooting a man in the face after the man came out of his bedroom with a gun during the robbery.
Rundle said her office back-tracked the facts of the case, including going through DNA samples, thousands of pages of documents, talking to witnesses and going over physical evidence.
GQ Magazine tracked down the Tommy James who was identified by witnesses as being involved in the robbery and homicide. He’s at the Tomoka Correctional Institute near Daytona Beach for a different offense. He expressed sorrow for his wrongly convicted namesake.
“I know it’s not him, and I
feel bad for him,” he told the magazine, later adding, “Let the other Thomas James know I feel for him. I’m sorry this happened.”
Predictably, Thomas Raynard James is ecstatic to be out of prison.
“It feels great,” he said. “Wonderful.”
One of the things he’s noticed since being out is people don’t listen to their car radios any longer. They listen to music from their cell phones through the car speakers. James’ phone is a model called an F3. He has plans for his phone.
“I can’t wait until the day I have my F3 connected to my (Cadillac) Escalade,” he said.