John,

Today, after more than 25 years of wrongful conviction and incarceration, Jabar Walker was finally exonerated in Manhattan following a year-long joint investigation by the Innocence Project and Post-Conviction Justice Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Jabar was convicted in the 1995 murders of two men on 148th Street in Manhattan, following an investigation by officers from New York Police Department’s 30th Precinct. The Precinct was known at the time as the “Dirty 30” due to widespread corruption amongst its officers.

Misconduct in the precinct was so rampant that an investigation into allegations of NYPD corruption resulted in the arrest of 33 officers — a staggering one-sixth of the precinct — in the 1990s. The investigation found that officers there routinely engaged in perjury, record falsification, thefts during searches and seizures, and distribution of narcotics.

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Take a moment right now to learn more about Jabar’s story and how police corruption and misconduct led to his wrongful conviction and incarceration. [[link removed]]

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The double murder went unsolved for over two years, and the “break”’ in the case came in May 1997 when police were trying to close out another unsolved homicide in the 30th Precinct.

Investigating a different open homicide on 148th Street from 1994, police went back to question Vanessa Vigo, who at the time of that murder, claimed to have seen an assailant fleeing from her window. They began asking her about the 1995 double homicide, and for the first time, she claimed that she saw that incident too and that the shooter was Jabar, who she knew from the neighborhood.

But Vanessa’s initial account of the double homicide, which lacked important detail and contradicted known facts of the crime, changed from the time she gave a written statement to the police to the time of her grand jury testimony. At trial, she testified that she received no consideration for her testimony and the prosecution argued to the jury that no motive had been developed for her to identify Jabar. The joint re-investigation revealed, however, that in connection with her testimony, she received monetary benefits from the prosecution, including payments for her apartment, which had not been disclosed to the defense. It was also revealed that she had erroneously identified another person as the assailant in the 1994 homicide.

Police also pressured another witness, John Mobley, to testify against Jabar by falsely saying that Jabar admitted to the crime. Police questioned John, showing him photos of other crime scenes and implied that they would charge him with those homicides if he did not cooperate. John was in jail during this time and said that he feared he would be falsely implicated in the double homicide or another murder if he did not tell the police that Jabar was the assailant.

“The joint re-investigation, guided by a commitment to transparency and the ascertainment of truth, revealed a myriad of ways where the system failed Mr. Walker, uncovered pervasive misconduct that led to his wrongful conviction and new evidence of what he has stated all along — he is innocent. He has now spent more than half of his life in prison for a crime he did not do," said Vanessa Potkin, Innocence Project’s director of special litigation.

Please read more about Jabar’s case and then share the news of his exoneration with your friends and family on social media. [[link removed]]

Thank you for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team

P.S. Help Jabar rebuild his life after 25-years of wrongful incarceration by donating to his personal fundraiser. [[link removed]]



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The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism.

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