A man accused of killing an off-duty Philly cop will be released from prison after his conviction was overturned

A Philadelphia man who was convicted of fatally shooting an off-duty city police officer in 2007 was expected to be released from prison as soon as Monday after a judge ruled that prosecutors had improperly withheld evidence in which a key witness said police detectives pressured her to lie.

The witness, a sex worker who used crack cocaine, wrote to then-District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham and trial prosecutor Carlos Vega to say she had been coerced into providing a false statement by detectives, and added that she’d been further induced by Vega, who she said had promised her money,drug treatment, and cosmetic dentistry.

But prosecutors say those letters, which were sent before trial, and could have been crucial in attacking the witness’ credibility, were never disclosed to lawyers for the defendant, Mumin Slaughter. Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio said Monday that “the magnitude of that indiscretion was so obvious.” He then agreed to overturn Slaughter’s conviction, and prosecutors said they would not seek to retry him, paving the way for his release.

The outcome thrilled Slaughter’s wife, Nefertiti Savoy-Slaughter, who was in the courtroom and said afterward that the relief “has been a long time coming.”

“I’m just so happy that the decision was finally made,” Savoy-Slaughter said.

Vega, however, saw things differently.

In an interview, he denied that he’d ever induced a witness or withheld relevant evidence, and said that during the appeals process, the District Attorney’s Office didn’t allow him to review the case file before deciding to advocate for Slaughter’s release.

Vega said he had not known of Monday’s hearing, and was “deeply saddened and disappointed” by the outcome.

“A police officer lost his life,” he said. “There’s a widow, he left a son and the evidence is overwhelming.”

The development in Slaughter’s case came about a year after a codefendant, William Johnson, was released due to the same set of circumstances.

No family members of the victim — Officer Terence V. Flomo — were in court Monday. Assistant District Attorney Zachary Green said they told prosecutors they didn’t want to attend.

The officer’s widow, Mary Flomo, said in an interview Monday afternoon that her family has felt disoriented throughout the case and unsure what to believe about the crime and who may have pulled the trigger. She said she didn’t want anyone wrongfully imprisoned, but said it was “heartbreaking” to have to revisit a case that for the family, now has no closure.

“We do want to know the truth, and we do want justice, and that we don’t have,” she said.

Slaughter and Johnson had been convicted of fatally shooting Flomo, an undercover narcotics officer and married father of four, on Aug. 26, 2005.

The prosecution’s theory at trial was that Flomo, while off-duty, had driven to 20th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue around 2 a.m. and spoken to two drug-addicted women who were out on the street as sex workers. Johnson and Slaughter then fired into his car, they said.

The women’s statements were key pieces of evidence against the two men in a case that lacked physical evidence implicating them. At an initial trial, in 2007, a jury voted to convict Slaughter of charges including third-degree murder, but failed to reach a verdict for Johnson.

Prosecutors retried Johnson two years later, this time armed with a statement from Slaughter implicating Johnson — something prosecutors now say Slaughter did in a bid to receive a more lenient sentence. Still, Slaughter wound up recanting and refused to testify. A judge allowed prosecutors to present the statement anyway, and Johnson was convicted of crimes including third-degree murder.

In 2020, one of the women who testified against the man recanted while speaking to Johnson’s appellate attorneys. And as they and prosecutors reinvestigated further, they found the letters she’d sent to Abraham and Vega in 2006 — before either trial — in Johnson’s case file.

Abraham did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. But after Johnson was released, she said prosecutors had provided “false information” to the court while advocating for Johnson’s release.

Vega said Monday that he did not influence any witness with promises of money or other rewards, and that he has “always” given exculpatory material to defense lawyers, as required by law.

He also said he was disappointed that prosecutors would not seek to retry Slaughter based on his statement implicating Johnson.

“Let’s assume [prosecutors] withdrew all the testimony of the witnesses. His statement alone would convict,” Vega said.

Slaughter’s wife, Savoy-Slaughter, said her husband, now 42, was innocent, and that he relied on his faith and his family to keep his spirits up while behind bars.

She and Slaughter’s attorneys, led by Jennifer Merrigan, brought a pack of Tastykakes for Slaughter, now 42, to eat upon his release. And she said he was “really excited” by the prospect of being reunited with his four children and two young grandchildren.

“He’s missed so many years,” Savoy-Slaughter said. “This is really big. I can’t even find the words.”