Boston Man Released From Prison After 26 Years Being Wrongfully Convicted

 

A Massachusetts man is now out of state custody after spending over two decades in prison for what the court is now calling a wrongful murder and armed robbery conviction.

James Lucien, 48, was serving a life sentence following his 1995 conviction, which was connected to the 1994 deadly shooting of 23-year-old Ryan Edwards.

Lucien had an emotional reunion with his family after Judge Robert Ullman cleared the convictions against him Tuesday in Suffolk County Superior Court.

"I feel good because I'm with my family now," Lucien said. "I've been waiting a whole 27 years for this, and now I have the opportunity to be free."

Dennis Toomey, Lucien's defense attorney, argued during Tuesday's hearing that the murder and robbery convictions against his client should be tossed because of an improper police investigation.

"The heart of our appellate argument here is that the jury simply did not hear evidence they could have used to acquit Mr. Lucien, so he didn't get due process," Toomey said.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said a former Boston police officer involved in Lucien's case, Det. John Brazil, participated in a sprawling corruption scheme from 1990 to 1996 with other officers, in which they conspired to lie, rob and steal from drug dealers by submitting false warrant applications and then seize cash, representing drug trade proceeds, and kept it for themselves.

"Almost everywhere we look in this case, there are serious problems," Special Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Jeanne Kempthorne said during Tuesday's hearing.

Family members of Ryan Edwards, the man shot and killed in 1994, opposed Lucien's release.

"I think it's horrible," said Dionne Richards, Edwards' sister. "Now he's free and there's nobody to help our family, and my brother's murder goes as another unsolved murder."Ullman urged Edwards' family not to blame Lucien, but instead Brazil, who allegedly lied and tampered with evidence.

"It's clear to me that justice may not have been done as to the murder and armed robbery charges," the judge said.

According to the district attorney's office, Brazil cooperated in a federal investigation and testified against fellow criminals and disgraced Boston police detectives Kenneth Acerra and Walter Robinson, both of whom pled guilty. Brazil was given immunity in exchange for his testimony and served no time. He is currently collecting a pension.