This week, after serving 19 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Termaine Hicks was released from prison and exonerated.
“It's a joyful day for me and my family,” Termaine said after being released. “At the same time, my thoughts and prayers are with the countless others who are not coming home today — or ever because of an impulsive, ill-prepared, and apprehensive cop. The way that cops approach Black and brown men and women … stems from years of systemic racism. We need a whole new system.”
Termaine Hicks was released from SCI Phoenix Prison on Dec. 16, 2020, in Collegeville, Penn. His brother Tone Hicks and friend Tyron McClendon greeted him upon release. (Image: Jason E. Miczek/AP Images for the Innocence Project)
Termaine endured an outrageous injustice for nearly two decades.
In the early morning of Nov. 27, 2001, he was walking home in South Philadelphia when he heard a woman screaming and went to help. He was about to call 911 when the police arrived in response to earlier calls from neighbors who saw the assailant drag the victim into an alley from their windows. One described the assailant as wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt.
But when the police arrived, they completely misread the situation, erroneously assumed Termaine was the assailant, and shot him three times in the back.
When they realized they’d shot the wrong person and that Termaine was unarmed, they embarked on a cover-up.
At trial, police falsely testified that they shot Termaine because he pointed a gun at them while lunging toward them. However, Termaine was unarmed, and new forensic evidence has concluded that Termaine was shot from behind — meaning he wasn’t coming toward the officers when he was shot. The gun police claimed that they recovered from Termaine’s jacket pocket was actually registered as the off-duty weapon of a uniformed Philadelphia police officer. And Termaine’s clothes from the scene were kept as evidence and did not include a hoodie. Officers saw surveillance footage the day of the crime that confirmed the assailant was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, which should have excluded Termaine as a suspect, but they did not make the tape or its contents available to the defense until after trial.
Based on officers’ false testimony, Termaine was convicted of rape, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime, and terroristic threats. He was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.
“This case is yet another example of systemic police abuse that is pervasive in the criminal legal system and persists because of institutional protections and a lack of accountability,” said Vanessa Potkin, Termaine’s Innocence Project lawyer. Officers involved in this case had extensive internal affairs files with numerous allegations of lying, planting evidence, excessive force, and substantiated complaints filed by civilians. And if these records had been publicly available, Termaine might not have had to endure so many years of injustice or been wrongly convicted at all. Pennsylvania is currently one of 21 states where police disciplinary records are kept confidential.
Here at the Innocence Project, we’re working every day to pass laws that address police misconduct which far too often leads to wrongful convictions.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
