Location

Defendant

Date of Crime

George Booker was convicted of the robbery and murder of Paul Lehman.  Lehman worked a lottery stand at the corner of Germantown and Lehigh Aves.  The robbery netted $14,000 in state lottery receipts.  A year after the murder, a witness, Eric Murphy, appeared of his own volition and fingered two suspects.  “Two of the males I knew from before.”  “One of the males was Michael Sanford, and the other male was a guy named Spud.”  Spud turned out to be Tyrone Payne.  "The third guy," continues Murphy's statement, "I did not know but he was a tall black guy. He had on a black leather jacket."  Police took a second statement from Murphy 24 hours later in which he identified the first two men from photos and referred to the third man as “the other guy.”  Yet in a third statement 12 hours later, Murphy suddenly “knew” the third man for he identified Booker from a series of photos and said, “That's Junie, I saw him wrestling with the lottery man.”

In 2001, a female friend of Booker located Murphy and he readily recanted his testimony.  Booker petitioned for a new trial and at the court hearing, Murphy said he identified Booker because police told him to.  He said police had told him that failing to identify Booker would free Sanford and Payne.  Sanford had threatened Murphy after the shooting, warning him not to snitch.  Murphy thought he could best assure his own safety by turning him in.  Detectives may have fixated on Booker as the third man because as a juvenile he had been arrested with Payne.  The judge denied Booker's motion for a new trial, but Murphy was arrested for perjury as the prosecutor had threatened during cross-examination.  Murphy served 14 months of imprisonment on the charge.  The Innocence Project is reviewing Booker's case.  (Phila Weekly)  [7/07]

www.victimsofthestate.org

Individual Case Summaries

Main Menu