Philadelphia man awarded $4.1 MILLION for wrongful imprisonment in murder case heads back to jail after admitting to new killing

Shaurn Thomas, 50, pleaded guilty last week to murdering 38-year-old Akeem Edwards in 2023 over a debt of $1,200 for drugs, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. This comes after he was previously convicted in 1992 for the fatal shooting of a businessman from Puerto Rico. Thomas was going to be serving life in prison but was released in 2017 and later won a $4.1 million settlement because of his innocence in the case.

He long maintained his innocence in the death of 78-year-old Domingo Martinez. In the 1990 case, Thomas had a potential alibi, and lawyers had three dozen pages of witness statements that led to different suspects. However, the lawyers ultimately based their prosecution on the statements from two alleged co-conspirators in the shooting.

The Philly District Attorney declined to retry the case. Thomas said he just wanted to "move forward" from his time in prison and settled with the city in a legal suit three years later.

Thomas later met Edwards, the man he would later kill, through the girl he was dating at the time. Thomas was looking to have Edwards sell some of his cocaine and delivered him a bag filled with the illicit drug and told him to bring back $1,200. When Edwards failed to do so, on January 3, 2023, Thomas shot Edwards while Thomas and Veasy were out for a drive in Philadelphia looking for him after running errands.

Veasy testified in court that Thomas got back to the car after shooting Edwards and said, "He's hit, he's down, just drive" and then claimed that it was his third homicide. She claimed that Thomas told her to keep her "mouth quiet or else." Weeks later, Thomas as well as Veasy were arrested in March that year and charged with murder. On Thursday, Thomas pleaded guilty to third-degree murder as well as conspiracy and illegal gun possession charges and is set to be sentenced in February.