Trial opens for three Philly homicide detectives charged with lying on the witness stand to keep an innocent man in prison

To hear prosecutors tell it, the three Philadelphia homicide detectives beat a false confession out of an innocent man, gave untruthful testimony that put him behind bars for a quarter-century, and then lied about it, even after DNA evidence eroded their case.

In the eyes of defense attorneys, Detectives Martin Devlin, Manuel Santiago, and Frank Jastrzembski were simply following the evidence as they sought justice in a 1991 rape and murder case. And the fact that a jury later exonerated Anthony Wright, they said, does not mean the detectives — now being tried on charges of perjury and false swearing — lied on the witness stand.

The detectives’ attorney, Brian McMonagle, went so far as to suggest in court Tuesday that Wright “got away with murder.”

The perjury trial for the three men opened with conflicting accounts of the homicide investigation at the heart of the case. The trial marks the first time in city history that police officers have been criminally charged for their roles in securing a wrongful conviction.

It also marks the third criminal trial to stem from the rape and killing of Louise Talley, a 77-year-old widow who lived in Nicetown and was beloved by her neighbors. The first jury convicted Wright in 1993. The second acquitted him in 2016 after DNA showed that another man had raped Talley.

This week, the jury will be asked to decide whether District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office has enough evidence to prove that three now-retired detectives lied under oath during the retrial and in civil depositions in a lawsuit that followed.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Collins told jurors in his opening statement that DNA evidence in the Wright case exposed a “lie” in the official police account given by Devlin and others.

“These defendants shattered the trust that we seek to place in the criminal justice system,” he said, adding that the trial was an opportunity to reverse that.

Defense lawyers, by contrast, painted a picture of a methodical murder investigation that led to Wright’s conviction, but was undone by a lack of witnesses at his retrial 23 years later.

“Criminal cases are not like fine wine,” McMonagle told jurors. “They do not age well.”

As lawyers for both sides launched into what is expected to be a weeklong trial, they focused on the homicide that started it all, a crime that took place in a struggling section of North Philadelphia at the height of the crack epidemic.

In his opening statement, McMonagle described a time when crack was turning men into “monsters.” People were fleeing Philadelphia in droves, he said. But Talley, who took pride in her home on the 3900 block of Nice Street, was among those who stayed.

One afternoon in October 1993, police went to Talley’s home after neighbors reported concern for her whereabouts. There, they found the longtime resident naked on the floor of her bedroom, stabbed to death.

Police had a lead on a man named “Tony,” and said they interviewed multiple witnesses who put Wright at the scene.

Within a day of the murder, detectives questioned Wright, and he signed a confession that was later key to his conviction.

In his statement, which detectives have long maintained was voluntary, Wright admitted to the rape and killing. He also admitted to wearing a black-and-red Chicago Bulls sweatshirt, suede-adorned blue jeans, and white Fila sneakers — clothes that Jastrzembski later said he found in Wright’s home.

Wright later testified that detectives threatened him with violence in the interrogation room and refused to let him read what he said he had signed under duress. In court Tuesday, he again denied having confessed.

“I feared for my life,” Wright, now 53, told the jury. “I was in there crying like a baby for my mother.”

A jury convicted him two years later, based largely on his confession and the testimony of witnesses. He appealed, and in 2014, his lawyers uncovered DNA evidence that implicated another man. Wright’s conviction was overturned, but then-District Attorney Seth Williams retried the case, saying Wright still could have been an accomplice to the crime.

In 2016, a jury acquitted Wright at a retrial and sharply criticized the district attorney for retrying the case on thin evidence. Wright filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, and the city later settled the case for nearly $10 million.

While Wright’s innocence is not on trial this week, defense attorneys nonetheless maintained that police had the right man all along, and said that the jury would soon see holes in the exonerated man’s story.

“Just because Tony Wright got away with murder doesn’t mean [these] men lied about the case,” McMonagle said, pointing to his clients.

Santiago and Jastrzembski each face three counts of perjury and three counts of false swearing. Devlin faces two counts of each crime.

The trial, which drew a packed gallery on its first day, including family members of the detectives, former police officials, and other exonerated men who support Wright, is expected to last until Friday.

Wright’s testimony is expected to continue Tuesday.