Former Philadelphia Detectives Face Trial for Perjury Linked to 2016 Murder Exoneration

PHILADELPHIA—Three retired Philadelphia detectives faced trial on Tuesday in a perjury case that probes the accountability of police in alleged misconduct tied to exoneration cases.

This case is notably rare, considering that the former detectives, aged between 75 to 80, may face imprisonment if found guilty. They had voluntarily returned from retirement to testify during a 2016 retrial concerning the murder of an elderly woman in 1991, which reset the five-year period for filing perjury charges.

“They didn’t need to come back. They returned for Louise Talley,” defense attorney Brian McMonagle stated to the jury on Tuesday, referencing the victim, who is now 77.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, known for his previous lawsuits against police during his tenure as a civil rights lawyer, charged the former detectives—Martin Devlin, Manuel Santiago, and Frank Jastrzembski—in 2021, just as the statute of limitations was about to run out.

Talley, a widow, was raped and murdered in a neighborhood plagued by the crack cocaine crisis of the early 1990s. Anthony Wright, a neighbor who was only 20 at the time, spent two decades in prison until DNA testing cleared him of the crime. Although his conviction was overturned, his previous prosecutor opted to retry him.

“That case was extraordinary,” said Maurice Possley, a senior researcher at The National Registry of Exonerations, referring to the 2016 retrial. “There was a DNA exclusion, and they moved forward with the trial anyway.”

The pivotal evidence against Wright was his confession, which his attorneys contended was coerced, a claim denied by police.

However, when tasked with transcribing a nine-page confession in real-time—as Devlin claimed to have done at the time—the renowned homicide detective struggled to complete even a few words. The jury subsequently acquitted Wright.

In court on Tuesday, Wright recounted his release after “9,074 days, a quarter century, 25 years” behind bars. He claimed he signed each page of the alleged confession while crying for his mother, handcuffed to a chair at the police station.

Now 53, Wright is expected to return to the stand on Wednesday for what is anticipated to be a rigorous cross-examination.

McMonagle previously read statements from Wright’s supposed associates that positioned him at the crime scene during a lengthy night of drug use.

“Cocaine was turning men into monsters, including Anthony Wright,” McMonagle reiterated, reinforcing the initial police narrative surrounding the homicide case.

Yet on the stand, Wright denied having any familiarity with those historical witnesses. After his exoneration, he received nearly a $10 million settlement from the city and has been represented in recent years by lawyer Peter Neufeld, a co-founder of the Innocence Project, who was present in court on Tuesday.

Krasner assumed office in 2018, aiming to enforce police accountability and has facilitated approximately 50 exonerations since then. He arrested the detectives just before the deadline in August 2021.

The defense has accused his office of unjustly tarnishing the detectives’ reputations before the grand jury; however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has thus far rejected their request to intervene.

Santiago, 75, and Devlin, 80, face allegations of lying regarding the confession, while Jastrzembski, 77, is accused of misrepresenting the discovery of the victim’s clothing in Wright’s bedroom. Additionally, Santiago and Jastrzembski are charged with providing false information about the DNA evidence.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty. If convicted of perjury, a felony, they could face up to seven years in prison, alongside charges of false swearing, a misdemeanor.

On Tuesday, McMonagle guided the jury back to the early 1990s, highlighting how many fled neighborhoods like Talley’s. He noted that she remained due to her commitment to her local church and family. The assailant departed with two televisions, a clock radio, and some change from her purse, passing by photos of President John F. Kennedy and Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr.

At least six people assisted law enforcement in directing them to Wright, motivated by their affection for Talley.

“The neighborhood was solving this case,” McMonagle emphasized.

The trial is projected to continue throughout the week.

By Maryclaire Dale