Man Released From Prison After Serving 32 Years In A ‘Mistaken Identity’ Murder Case

For 32 years, Thomas Raynard James, from Miami, Florida, was imprisoned for murder. Now, prosecutors and a judge have said that he isn’t guilty.

On Wednesday, the 55-year-old man was cleared and released from prison.

James happily walked out of a hearing on Wednesday after he had continuously stated that he wasn’t a murderer.

In 1990, Francis McKinnon was killed in his residence during a home invasion in Coral Cables, FL. There was never any physical evidence that connected James to the murder.

During a photo lineup, James, who was 23 at the time, was picked as the person who killed McKinnon. Prosecutors have now stated that the matter was a case of mistaken identity.

In 2019, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Justice Project began to look into James’ conviction again. One of the murder case’s key witnesses said that police “had the wrong guy.” She then repeated those claims again.

Then, Dorothy Walton, the victim’s stepdaughter, took back her statement made in the courtroom in 1991. This is where she stated, “I’m positive of it. I will never forget his face.” This ultimately helped in James being convicted of the murder. She took back her statement and told authorities that she believed that she had identified the wrong gunman.

Prosecutors disclosed that another man had been serving life in prison for multiple violent robberies by then. His name was also Thomas James. They believe that this was a “chance coincidence” that “led to the defendant’s photograph being included in a lineup. It set in motion a mistaken identification.”

Before he was released, James was required to take a polygraph test, answering three questions related to the murder of McKinnon.

The state said that he was honest and passed the three questions.