3 murder convictions overturned in Philadelphia after DA finds men were wrongfully convicted

PHILADELPHIA - Three men are on their way to freedom after their murder convictions were overturned by the Court of Common Pleas Thursday. 

The Court of Common Pleas agreed Thursday that one man’s conviction for a brutal robbery-murder in a Northeast Philadelphia laundromat in 1995 should be vacated, after District Attorney Larry Krasner’s administration said his constitutional rights had been violated during the trial in 1996. On the same day, the Court also vacated the convictions of two men who were wrongly convicted of a 2011 murder in West Philadelphia. 

Eddie Ramirez, 46 and co-defendant William Weihe, 46 were previously convicted by a jury for the murder of Joyce Dennis on February 20, 1995 after she was found viciously beaten to death late at night, after a laundromat in Northeast Philadelphia had been robbed of approximately $1,100, according to the DA. 

Thought there was no physical evidence, the DA says Ramirez was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison based off of statements of friends and a testimony from co-defendant Weihr.

Weihr was able to plead guilty to third degree murder in exchange for his cooperation against Ramirez and served five years in prison before being released. 

The DA says all statements implicating Ramirez have since been recanted after several witnesses alleged that they were threatened and coerced by police into blaming Ramirez for the murder.  

After investigating claims made by Ramirez in a Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition, on August 1, 2023 the DA’s Law Division Federal Litigation Unit informed the court that his constitutional rights were violated. 

"The relief granted today is an acknowledgment that Mr. Ramirez’s rights were violated, that he did not receive a fair trial, and that had certain information not been suppressed by police and prosecutors at the time, that the jury might well have reached a different conclusion." said DA Larry Krasner. "The criminal legal system also badly failed the victim of a horrendous violent crime and their loved ones."  

The DA’s Office will conduct another comprehensive review and inform the court of its intent to re-try the vacated charges within the next 30 days.  

In another instance, co-defendants Curtis Kingwood and Faheem Davis have also been exonerated 10 years after being arrested for a murder for which they were wrongfully convicted and almost two years after the Commonwealth claimed both of their due process rights had been violated. 

According to the police investigation at the time, on September 11, 2011, Christopher Lee and two other individuals were shooting dice near the intersection of Jefferson Street and Lindenwood Street in West Philadelphia when they were approached by two unknown men. They said one of the men had a firearm and as Lee and the two others began to run away the man with the gun fired at the group fatally wounding Lee.  

In previous interviews, the DA say the two surviving individuals could not identify the strangers who committed this crime but provided physical descriptions. They say the investigation went cold until almost one year later until a firearm that was recovered during an unrelated domestic violence investigation was identified as the gun that killed Lee. 

The individual who had the gun told then-Detective Philip Nord that he received it from a drug addict who refused an official interview. Then, Detective Nordo interviewed Kingwood and after 43 hours in custody he provided a statement implicating himself and Davis. The DA says before trial, Kingwood met with prosecutors and attempted to confront Nordo about being sexually exploited, but he yelled at him intimidating him into silence. 

Both Kingwood and Davis eventually went to a jury trial and were convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

After DA Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) reviewed the case, they found that the Commonwealth suppressed information from the defense that another individual may have had access to the murder weapon. 

They say this individual had knowledge of or was involved in the murder and another detective provided a false testimony at trial about the investigation into that person. Nordo’s documented misconducted was not disclosed, despite his involvement in eliciting Kingwood’s confession. 

The case was recently reassigned to a new judge to review the evidence and make a decision. 

The Court ordered new trials for Kingwood and Davis, and the CIU immediately moved to dismiss the charges. 

Then, the Court dismissed the charges securing Kingwood’s freedom after a decade of wrongful imprisonment, but Davis will remain incarcerated to serve a sentence for an unrelated non-fatal shooting in 2012.