Philadelphia man finally walks free from death row 30 years after wrongful conviction for arson murder

Daniel Gwynn, 54, was convicted in 1994 over the death of an unhoused woman – Marsha Smith – in West Philadelphia.

Daniel Gwynn finally walks free from death row 30 years after wrongful conviction for arson murder (WPVI)

A Philadelphia man who spent almost 30 years on death row after being wrongfully convicted of arson murder has been set free.

Daniel Gwynn, 54, was convicted in 1994 over the death of an unhoused woman – Marsha Smith – in West Philadelphia.

The District Attorney’s office said in a statement that the conviction and sentence had been secured by police and prosecutors who had “suppressed information to which [Mr Gwynn] was legally entitled.” All charges against him were dropped on Wednesday.

“The exoneration of Daniel Gwynn today frees a man who is likely innocent,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. “Sadly, it also exemplifies an era of inexact and, at times corrupt, policing and prosecution that has broken trust with our communities to this day.”

Mr Krasner continued: “The public expects the right consequences for those who commit violent crimes and wants the innocent to be free.

“When law enforcement wrongly arrests, prosecutes, and imprisons the innocent, the guilty go free and are emboldened to do more harm.”

He added: “I will continue to encourage our justice partners, including the Philadelphia Police Department, until we have the forensics we need to solve crimes the right way – with accuracy and integrity.”

Marsha Smith was killed on 20 November 1994 in an arson fire on Chestnut Street in west Philadelphia. After a jury trial which relied on testimony from two witnesses and a confession from Mr Gwynn, which he later recanted – Mr Gwynn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

An alternate suspect in the 1994 murder had been identified by witnesses to police, but information about that suspect was never turned over to Mr Gwynn, in violation of his constitutional rights, according to the DA’s office.

With no eyewitnesses, the police relied on information from two people who like Smith were squatting in that residence, and who police said identified Mr Gwynn as “Rick” from photo arrays used in a separate murder investigation. Those photo arrays also were never turned over to Mr Gwynn’s defence team. counsel.

For decades, the DA’s Office maintained that the other murder was unrelated to Smith’s murder and that the photo arrays did not exist.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Mr Gwynn’s conviction and death sentence in 1998, despite the dissent of two justices who wrote that the trial court had erred.

Daniel Gwynn, 54, was exonerated and freed from death row on Wednesday (WPVI)

Two decades later in December 2020, the DA’s Office agreed that he should be resentenced to life without parole, which was accepted by the Court of Common Pleas. Mr Gwynn was finally provided with all of the exculpatory information to which he’d always been entitled.

In February 2023, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania conceded that the Commonwealth had violated his federal constitutional rights, that his confession to police was not reliable, and that his conviction should be vacated.

“The wrongful conviction of Daniel Gwynn, and his unjust imprisonment for nearly three decades, is a cautionary tale of tunnel vision in policing and prosecution,” said Assistant District Attorney David Napiorski.

“The oath sworn by prosecutors to seek justice compels us to follow the facts, even when they contradict assumptions and biases. Not only were Mr Gwynn’s rights violated at trial, but his conviction and sentence to death row likely allowed the person actually responsible to escape accountability.

“We also apologize to the survivors of Marsha Smith for the retraumatization they have likely experienced. They were deprived of justice in 1994 and are deserving of justice now.”