A man convicted of murder and sentenced to 22 years to life behind bars was released from prison due to a technicality. Terrence Lewis was released from a maximum-security prison in Seneca County, New York, after a judge determined that officials violated the federal Interstate Agreement on Detainer’s Law.
The law says that a prisoner in one jurisdiction who is facing an unrelated charge in another jurisdiction must be held and tried in that jurisdiction before they are returned to the place of their original incarceration.
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Because they sent him back to prison in Pennsylvania before his New York murder trial was complete, the law requires the murder conviction to be tossed out.
“The harsh reality is that despite a jury of 12 members of our community determining, after hearing all of the evidence set before them, that defendant is guilty of the murder of Johnny C. Washington, this administrative jail decision made based on jail population and timing, not the law, unequivocally entitles defendant to dismissal of the murder in the second-degree indictment with prejudice under the exacting requirements of the anti-shuttling provisions of the IAD,” Judge Stephen Miller wrote in his ruling.
* Original Article:
https://www.iheart.com/alternate/amp/2024-02-15-convicted-killer-released-from-jail-because-he-was-held-at-wrong-prison/
