Christopher Williams: Philly man who was freed after spending 29 years 'wrongly' in prison shot dead
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: A wrongfully convicted man from Philadelphia, who spent almost three decades in jail until his release in 2021, was fatally shot while he was reportedly attending a funeral. No arrests have been made yet after Christopher Williams, 62, "suffered gunshot wounds to the head" at Mount Peace Cemetery on Friday, December 16, 2022.
On Friday around 2.20 pm, Philadelphia police responded to the 3000 block of West Lehigh Avenue for a report of a person with a gun. When they arrived they found Williams with gunshot wounds to the head. He was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced at 2.27 pm, police said, according to a statement sent to NBC Philadelphia.
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Williams had been convicted in two distinct cases -- a triple murder in 1989 and the murder of Michael Haynesworth that same year. Williams and co-defendant Troy Coulston were convicted of Haynesworth's murder in 1992. Williams and co-defendant Theophalis Wilson were convicted of the triple homicide in 1993, as per the station. Years later, Philadelphia prosecutors reportedly tried to overturn Williams' convictions for both murders after discovering flawed testimony and exonerating material that had been found by police but never disclosed to defense lawyers, according to authorities.
According to the report, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) also discovered there was a significant amount of evidence in Williams’ favor that had been withheld from the initial trial, including reports of alternate suspects and accounts that contradicted those of the men who testified against him. Williams was exonerated of his triple homicide conviction in December 2019. However, he continued to remain in jail because of Michael Haynesworth's conviction.
The CIU then reviewed the case and discovered that Williams' testimony did not match the actual evidence that was on hand. He was ultimately released from jail after 29 years on February 9, 2021, as a result of the CIU's recommendation. Williams sued the city of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, 17 police detectives or their estates, two former deputy district attorneys, and former district attorney Lynne Abraham in December 2021 for his unjust convictions, as per the report.
Since his release from prison 22 months ago, Williams had been working as a carpenter with hopes of starting his own construction business that would employ freed convicts, Williams’ longtime attorney Stuart Lev told NBC News. "It's incredibly tragic. This guy went through decades in prison, 25 years on death row for crimes that he did not commit because the system failed," Lev said.
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