Anthony Ways

I.The conviction

Charge

Murder, Robbery, Illegal Use of a Weapon

Year convicted

1991

Sentence

Life

Time served

14 years (arrested April 25, 1989 — released on bond June 2004; charges dismissed October 19, 2005)

What contributed to the conviction

The conviction rested on a single eyewitness, driver Wayne Hunter, who was near-sighted, not wearing his glasses the night of the shooting, and picked Ways out of a photo lineup in which Ways was the only person wearing a hat — matching Hunter's vague description of the shooter's clothing. A second witness, Donna Carter, changed her story between her initial police statement and her trial testimony, and later testified at a post-conviction hearing that she had been coached by the prosecutor and that police had let her keep cocaine they had planted on her in exchange for her cooperation. Meanwhile a named alternate suspect, Franklin King, matched the type of weapon used and repeatedly admitted to others that he was the shooter.

II.Exoneration

Year exonerated

2005

What led to exoneration

At a 2000 post-conviction hearing, several witnesses gave new or recanted testimony: Tyrone Williams said Franklin King had tried to sell him a .44 Magnum hours after the murder and admitted having "a body on the gun"; Donna Carter recanted her trial testimony, saying she had falsely implicated Ways because she was high, afraid of being charged, and had been coached by the prosecutor; alibi witness Todd Johnson admitted he had falsely placed Ways at a bar that night; a retired Camden police officer testified King had told him, before any gun evidence was public, "I'm not the only one in Camden with a .44 Magnum"; and Ways's own cousin testified King twice admitted to him, in prison, that he shot Weist. King himself testified at the hearing that Ways was innocent — "someone else did it. It wasn't this guy" — while denying he was the shooter. In 2004, the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed Ways's conviction, finding the new evidence "sufficiently implicated King in the shooting" that it likely would have led to Ways's acquittal at trial. Rather than face a retrial, Camden County prosecutors dismissed the murder, robbery, and weapons charges in October 2005 after Ways pleaded guilty to unrelated witness-tampering and hindering-apprehension charges, for which he was sentenced to time served. He settled a wrongful-conviction lawsuit for $280,000 in 2008 and has since advocated for other wrongfully convicted people, including serving on the advisory committee for an innocence project at Rutgers University.

III.Evidence of innocence

1. 1. A named alternate suspect who repeatedly admitted guilt

   Franklin King, who matched the type of weapon used in the killing, admitted on separate occasions to at least three different people — including Ways's own cousin, while both were incarcerated together — that he had shot Weist. At Ways's 2000 post-conviction hearing, King testified under oath that Ways was innocent: "someone else did it. It wasn't this guy."

2. 2. The crime scene didn't match the state's theory

   The defense contended the shooting actually happened at Wally's Bar, two blocks from the Time and Place Lounge the state pointed to — and unlike the lounge, Wally's Bar was next to an alley, matching driver Wayne Hunter's own description of the scene.

IV.Newly discovered evidence

1. 1. A buyer King approached with the murder weapon

   At the 2000 hearing, Tyrone Williams testified that in the hours after the killing, Franklin King asked him if he wanted to buy a .44 Magnum pistol, and when asked if it had "any bodies on the gun," King said yes and opened the cylinder to show a spent shell.

2. 2. A retired officer's early tip pointed to King

   Leonard Hall, a retired Camden police officer, testified that shortly after the murder, before any gun evidence was public, King stated in his presence, "I'm not the only one in Camden with a .44 Magnum." Hall reported King to police as a possible suspect at the time.

3. 3. The state's key witness recanted

   Donna Carter, whose trial testimony that Ways alone was the shooter helped convict him, later testified she had falsely incriminated him because she was high and afraid of being charged with drug and prostitution offenses, and that a prosecutor had told her what to say.

V.Due-process violations

1. 1. Alleged evidence-planting to secure cooperation

   Donna Carter testified at the post-conviction hearing that Camden police officers planted eight bags of cocaine on her before she spoke with the prosecutor, then let her keep the drugs afterward — presumably in exchange for her cooperation implicating Ways.

2. 2. A recanted alibi witness

   Todd Johnson, who testified at trial that he saw Ways at the Time and Place Lounge around the time of the shooting, later admitted at the post-conviction hearing that he had falsely testified, believing at the time he was helping provide Ways an alibi.

VI.Unreliable evidence

1. 1. A cross-racial identification made without glasses

   The sole eyewitness, driver Wayne Hunter, was near-sighted and was not wearing his glasses on the night of the shooting. He identified Ways from a photo lineup in which Ways was the only person wearing a hat — matching Hunter's vague description of the shooter's clothing.

2. 2. A recanting witness who changed her account for the jury

   Donna Carter initially told police she saw both Ways and Bryant Anderson approach the car, with Anderson identified as the one who fired. At trial, she reversed course and testified only Ways was present and that he was the shooter — the recantation that helped convict him but that she later disavowed as coerced.

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