Former Philly homicide detectives acquitted of perjury in murder investigation — but jury finds two lied about DNA knowledge

Three former Philadelphia homicide detectives were acquitted Thursday of lying under oath about a murder investigation that put an innocent man in prison for decades, but two of them were convicted of making false statements about DNA evidence in the case.

Martin Devlin, 80, was acquitted of all charges — perjury and false swearing — by a jury that rejected prosecutors’ claims that he and his colleagues fabricated a murder confession and then lied about it under oath. The three men were accused of framing Anthony Wright for the 1991 rape and murder of 77-year-old Louise Talley in Nicetown.

Manuel Santiago, 75, was also acquitted of perjury in connection with his testimony about the murder confession, but the jury convicted him of perjury, a felony, and false swearing, a misdemeanor, for lying under oath about his knowledge of DNA evidence in the case.

And Frank Jastrzembski, 77, was acquitted of perjury and related charges for his testimony about a search warrant he executed in the case, but found guilty of one misdemeanor count of false swearing for his testimony about DNA evidence.

Prosecutors said Devlin and Santiago fabricated a murder confession while Jastrzembski planted clothes at Wright’s home decades ago, then lied about that on the witness stand to frame an innocent man for murder.

The jury rejected prosecutors’ contention that the detectives framed Wright and later lied about their actions. But the panel found that Santiago and Jastrzembski later changed their testimony on what they knew about the evidence in the case, where a man’s innocence — and freedom — was at stake.

As the jury delivered its mixed verdict, family members of the detectives who had packed the courtroom for eight days reacted alternately with gasps and sighs of relief. Some wept quietly after the guilty verdicts were read.

Defense attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. called the verdict “inconsistent” and disputed the jury’s finding that the two detectives’ testimony about the DNA amounted to a crime.

“It’s clear from the testimony from both men that they were confused about what the DNA meant at the time,” said Perri, who vowed to appeal the ruling.

Wright was found guilty in 1993 of raping and stabbing Talley to death, but his conviction was later overturned when DNA evidence implicated another suspect. Prosecutors under then-District Attorney Seth Williams brought charges against Wright a second time on the theory that he did not act alone. But a jury acquitted him at a retrial in 2016.

» READ MORE: As police perjury trial comes to close, jury to begin deliberating whether officers lied in murder case

Ahead of the retrial, detectives were briefed about the new DNA evidence, including that it pointed to a known crack user who lived near Talley’s home. The forensic analysis also suggested that the clothes Jastrzembski said he seized from Wright’s home had been worn by Talley, not the murderer.

On the witness stand at the retrial, both Santiago and Jastrzembski acknowledged the DNA testing but denied knowing that it pointed to another man.

When asked if he still believed Wright was the “sole” killer, Santiago said yes.

After Wright was acquitted, he filed a federal lawsuit against the city and was later awarded a $9.85 million settlement. In sworn depositions for the civil case, Santiago and Jastrzembski were questioned about the DNA evidence and answered in a way that conflicted with their earlier testimony at trial.

District Attorney Larry Krasner then accused the detectives of lying to keep Wright in prison, filing rare criminal charges against police officers for their role in a conviction that was later overturned.

But the jury’s verdict rejected prosecutors’ suggestion that the 1991 investigation was a setup, following eight days of testimony that often resembled a retrial for Wright.

While Wright’s culpability in Talley’s murder was not at issue in the perjury case, the question loomed large in this trial within a trial. Much of the testimony centered on which jury in Wright’s murder case rendered the appropriate verdict: the 1993 panel that convicted him or the jury in the 2016 retrial that set him free.

Wright, now 53 with a gray beard, testified last week and said he was threatened with violence in the police interrogation room after he was brought in for questioning. He said he signed a confession under duress after detectives — whom he did not identify — threatened to “pull his eyes out and skullf— him.” Devlin and Santiago, he said, made him sign a confession without letting him read it.

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys sought to sow doubt about Wright’s innocence. They emphasized his previous arrests for assaulting a police officer and his former girlfriend, as well as his history of drug use as a teenager. And they flat out suggested that the jury that acquitted Wright got it wrong.

“Just because Tony Wright got away with murder doesn’t mean [these] men lied about the case,” defense attorney Brian McMonagle told the jury.

The defense leaned on transcripts from witnesses at Wright’s 1993 trial that put him at the scene. Three of those witnesses later recanted their testimony about his whereabouts at retrial, but did not testify at the detective’s trial.

After the verdict, Wright stood outside the courtroom and maintained his innocence, noting that no DNA linked him to the crime scene.

“The DNA says two things — guilty or not guilty,” he said.

Prosecutors declined comment as they wheeled boxes of case files out of the courthouse.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Krasner insisted that the detectives framed Wright, and he criticized his predecessor’s decision to retry Wright after his conviction was overturned amid DNA evidence that implicated someone else.

Krasner said he hoped the detectives’ convictions for lying about DNA evidence would send a message to others in law enforcement.

“When people get up on Friday, March 28, and they head for court with a subpoena in their hand, no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of them fully intend to tell the truth,” he said. “The courtroom should be a sacred place.”

Santiago and Jastrzembski are scheduled to be sentenced on June 18. Krasner declined to say how long a sentence his office would seek.