Termaine Joseph Hicks exonerated after 19 years in prison
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Termaine Joseph Hicks freed after 19 years in prison on false rape claims by Philadelphia police
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By Justine Coleman - 12/17/20 11:34 AM EST
A Black man in Philadelphia was exonerated on Wednesday and released after 19 years in prison for a rape that a new division in the prosecutor s office ultimately determined he did not commit.
The Philadelphia District Attorney s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) agreed with Termaine Joseph Hicks, 45, and his lawyers that the case against him was contradicted by forensic evidence and based on false statements, according to court documents submitted Tuesday.
Hicks, who goes by Jermaine Weeks in court documents, was responding to a woman screaming in an alley when police arrived and shot him three times in 2001. Hicks and his lawyers had asserted that the actual rapist fled the scene before Hicks arrived. Hicks was convicted and sentenced to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison.
Philadelphia police shot a man and accused him of rape. After 19 years in prison, he’s been found innocent. Katie Shepherd © Matt Rourke/AP Philadelphia police claimed that Termaine Hicks was raping a woman and reached for a gun when he was shot in 2001, but a judge found this week that he was innocent. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) For 19 years, Termaine Joseph Hicks maintained his innocence. In 2001, a police officer shot the 26-year-old Popeyes manager, later telling a court that Hicks reached for a gun after the officer found him raping a woman in a Philadelphia alleyway. A jury later convicted Hicks of rape, and a judge sentenced him to up to 25 years in prison.