Mass. man in prison for 40 years free after judge overturns conviction
SPRINGFIELD — Edward Wright walked hand-in-hand with his wife outside of the Hampden County Courthouse on Thursday afternoon.
Wright, 63, spent more than four decades behind bars for the murder of his friend, Penny Anderson. He maintains he was wrongfully incarcerated. A judge in April tossed his conviction.
On the courthouse steps, Mimi Olivier, Wright's wife, rested her head on her husband's shoulder as his legal team expressed their hope that the Hampden District Attorney's Office would "end their injustice" against Wright, as the charges he's faced are still active.
"This case is still hanging over his head, but he is not fighting this from a cage. He is free today, and we hope to be back here very soon to be able to say that he has been exonerated," said Radha Natarajan, executive director of the New England Innocence Project.
Earlier on Thursday, Sarah B. Hamilton, a Superior Court associate justice, allowed Wright's motion to reconsider release on bail, and Wright was released on his own recognizance after his probation hearing.
Wright has a number of conditions to his release: He will live with his wife at her home in Medford; he will have a curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.; he will be monitored by GPS; he must attend all court hearings and report to the court's Probation Department once a week; he must not leave the state, cannot apply for a passport and must sign a waiver of rendition; he cannot possess any firearms or other dangerous weapons; and he must not contact any of the state's witnesses, court documents say.
Probation proceedings took one-and-a-half hours Thursday afternoon.
While it was clear Wright was happy to be outside of the courthouse, Natarajan said neither he nor his family would speak to the press at this time.
Both the DA's office and Wright's team agree that Wright's case is not retriable; still, the DA's office could choose to move to retry the case, Natarajan said.
"He is taking his first steps of freedom after so long," she said of Wright. "The journey has been long, but it is not even over today, because even as of today, the charges still remain."
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in April that he believes Wright received a fair trial in 1985. That conviction, he said, was upheld repeatedly by the Trial Court and the Supreme Judicial Court, until recently.
Radha Natarajan, the executive director of the New England Innocence Project, joins Edward Wright and his wife, Mimi Olivier, right, on the Hampden Superior Courthouse steps after his release Thursday. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Serge Georges, a justice for the Supreme Judicial Court, denied the commonwealth's right to appeal in its latest ruling, and Wright's conviction remained overturned, Natarajan explained.
On Thursday evening, Gulluni said in a statement Anderson's murder was a "violent and cowardly act."
"We disagree with the decision to allow the motion for new trial, which was the defendant's sixth bite at the apple," Gulluni's statement said.
"But, it is important to note, the very judge who allowed the motion stated in his decision that 'the incriminating evidence against the defendant was quite strong,' and 'despite the considerable incriminating evidence against the defendant, the court finds … (he) has met his relatively low burden … which might have affected the outcome of the trial,'" said Gulluni.
The DA's office is evaluating its legal next steps, he said.
Edward Wright and his wife, Mimi Olivier, hold hands outside the Hampden Superior Courthouse on Thursday. Wright was incarcerated for more than 40 years for the murder of Springfield resident Penny Anderson. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
What led to Wright's release?
In April, Hampden Superior Court Judge Jeremy Bucci overturned Wright's first-degree murder conviction from 1985.
The judge cited evidence that was not shared with the defense, and that new DNA tests point to Wright's innocence in the killing of Anderson on May 14, 1984.
Wright, who is Black, was 22 when he was convicted by an all-white jury.
Wright had tried five times to overturn his conviction, his attorneys said this spring.
In an April statement, Gulluni expressed disagreement with Bucci's decision.
Edward Wright spent 40 years in prison for a Springfield murder he says he didn't commit. (Photo provided)
"We stand by the integrity of the original prosecution and the many judicial reviews that this case has already received over the past four decades," Gulluni said at the time. "The murder of Penny Anderson in 1984 was a senseless and tragic act of violence that tore a family apart and shook a community."
Anderson was 24 when she was found dead inside her Dwight Street Extension apartment. She had been bound and stabbed more than 60 times.
Prosecutors claimed that Wright and Anderson, who worked as an exotic dancer at Club 418 on Worthington Street, left the club and went to her apartment. They alleged that Wright tied her up and stabbed her multiple times.
Natarajan said Thursday there have been multiple pieces of evidence that prove Wright's innocence.
"So much has come to light to support his innocence, including evidence of a man who confessed to killing the victim in this case, twice," she said.
She said Wright's legal team is prepared to fight regardless of what the DA office's decision in the case is.
What's next for Wright? For the first time in more than 40 years, he'll get a chance to eat a real cheeseburger as a free man, said Natarajan.
Edward Wright, seen here at trial in 1985, was wrongly convicted of a murder he did not commit, according to the Innocence Project New England, based on fresh DNA evidence. (The Republican, file)The Republican
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