Philadelphia Man Wrongly Imprisoned For 11 Years Wins Historic Verdict Against Detective Who Coerced His Confession
A former homicide detective in Philadelphia was convicted for assaulting an innocent man over ten years ago to secure a false murder confession and subsequently lying about his actions in court.
On July 16, James Pitts was found guilty by a jury ofbstruction and perjury. His actions resulted in the wrongful conviction of Obina Onyiah, who had been falsely implicated in a 2010 robbery and murder due to the coerced confession.
Onyiah spent over ten years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, while the actual perpetrator remained at large and was never caught.
With the situation reversed, Pitts, 53, is scheduled for sentencing in the Court of Common Pleas on October 4. He potentially faces a prison term equivalent to the time Onyiah served. However, the judge denied a request to incarcerate Pitts immediately, allowing him to stay free for now. This gives the former officer over two months to make arrangements before his sentencing.
In 2013, Pitts provided misleading testimony during both a pretrial motion and the subsequent jury trial, falsely asserting that he had never used physical force on Onyiah to secure a confession.
During an interrogation, Pitts physically assaulted Onyiah to extract a confession regarding the murder of jewelry store owner William Glatz. Glatz had shot and killed one of the robbers before succumbing to his injuries, while the second robber managed to escape.
'The Philadelphia Inquirer' reports that Onyiah, previously convicted for bank robbery, was accused of the Glatz murder after a former associate implicated him in the crime. Despite lacking solid evidence, Pitts pressured Onyiah into confessing, fully aware that Onyiah was innocent, according to investigators.
As a result, Onyiah was wrongfully convicted of the murder and spent 11 years in prison. His conviction was overturned in 2021 after it was proven through surveillance footage that Onyiah, who stands at 6-foot-3, could not have been the shorter accomplice who fled.
In the following year, a grand jury indicted Pitts for the assault on Onyiah.
Pitts had been previously involved in multiple lawsuits and faced numerous complaints for his aggressive interrogation techniques and coercion of false confessions, which had led to the collapse of several murder trials, per 'Fox 43.'
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office released a statement expressing appreciation for the jury's verdict and noted that this is the first time a Philadelphia detective has been convicted of pressuring a confession that resulted in a wrongful conviction in the city's history.
"My administration will continue to seek evenhanded justice in all cases prosecuted by this office, regardless of the defendant, because no one is above the law," stated DA Larry Krasner.
Michael Garmisa, who oversees the unit within the District Attorney's Office responsible for reviewing contested convictions, stated that the jury's decision brought justice for Onyiah.
Garmisa thanked "Mr. Onyiah for courageously testifying about the abuse he suffered at the defendant's hands."
