BOSTON (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped the murder case against a Boston man who spent nearly two decades behind bars in the shooting death of his cousin based on new revelations of police and prosecution misconduct.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins in a court filing Wednesday dismissed the indictment against Shaun Jenkins that stemmed from the 2001 murder of Stephen Jenkins in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, The Boston Globe reported.
Recently uncovered files show a Boston police detective paid a key witness $100 and prosecutors withheld evidence that could have pointed to another suspect according to a judge’s decision earlier this week granting Shaun Jenkins motion for a new trial.
The judge wrote that misconduct by the detective and prosecutors “deprived Jenkins of a fair trial.”
Jenkins has long maintained his innocence.
“It is clear that justice was not done here,” Rollins said in a statement. “When there is misconduct and/or material errors are made by law enforcement, including a prosecutor, we must always correct those errors. That is a vitally important part of building trust back into the criminal legal system.”
Shaun Jenkins was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was freed in September.
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