2 men investigated by disgraced ex-Philly cop exonerated for murder

Two men convicted more than a decade ago in a man's murder after being investigated by a now-disgraced Philadelphia police detective were exonerated Thursday. The news came as a conviction in another unrelated killing was vacated.

Curtis Kingwood and Faheem Davis had their convictions in the September 2011 murder of Christopher Lee vacated by the Court of Common Pleas Thursday, the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said.

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The duo's exonerations came on the same day that Krasner's office said the court "agreed that Eddie Ramirez’s conviction for a brutal 1995 robbery-murder in a Northeast Philadelphia laundromat should be vacated." Ramirez and another man were convicted of killing Joyce Dennis.

Here is a breakdown of what we know about each case and why the men are having their records cleared.

Disgraced detective Philip Nordo at center of convictions of Kingwood and Davis

"Two wrongfully convicted men are exonerated today for a terrible crime – but there is no guarantee that Christopher Lee and his loved ones will ever see justice," DA Krasner said in a news release. "I extend my deepest condolences to all who may be still grieving his murder, on behalf of a system that wronged them, too."  

Kingwood and Davis were found guilty of killing Lee as he ran away from a dice game after one of two men who approached them pulled out a gun, the DA's office said in a news release. Two people who survived the shooting "could not identify the strangers who committed this crime."

The DA's office picks up what happened next:

"The investigation went cold until almost a year later when the firearm recovered during an unrelated domestic violence investigation was identified as the gun that killed Lee. The person who possessed the murder weapon purportedly told then-Detective Philip Nordo that he received it from a drug addict who refused to be formally interviewed. 

"After receiving this information, Detective Nordo sought to interview Kingwood. After 43 hours in custody, Kingwood provided a statement implicating himself and Davis. Prior to trial Kingwood met with prosecutors and attempted to confront Nordo about being sexually exploited, but Nordo yelled at him, and intimidated him into silence. Both Kingwood and Davis eventually went to a jury trial and were convicted."

Both men were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) took a fresh look at the convictions in 2021 and found that prosecutors "suppressed information from the defense that another individual may have had access to the murder weapon and this individual had knowledge of or was involved in the murder; that another homicide detective provided false testimony at trial about the investigation into this individual; and that Nordo’s documented misconducted was not disclosed, despite his involvement in eliciting Kingwood’s confession."

More than a dozen people investigated by Nordo have had their convictions overturned since allegations of sexual misconduct against Nordo came to light.

Nordo was sentenced to 24.5 to 49 years in prison last year after a 2019 grand jury report alleged he "groomed" his male victims during ongoing investigations and engaged in conduct to make the men "more susceptible to his sexually assaultive and/ or coercive behavior.”

In July 2022 during an evidentiary hearing, information was provided that "corroborated Kingwood’s claim that Nordo sexually assaulted him to get the confession," the DA's office said.

Kingwood was freed from incarceration, while Davis remains jailed for a non-related non-deadly 2012 shooting, Krasner's office said.

"Equal application of accountability to law enforcement and others with great powers is critical for achieving true community safety and peace,” Krasner said in his news release. “The Philadelphia criminal legal system continues to unwind wrongful convictions and other injustices tied to former detective Philip Nordo’s outrageous crimes with no immediate end in sight – because too many officials in powerful positions tolerated his corruption for too long."

Murder conviction vacated due to questions over recanted statements

Ramirez, now 46, and co-defendant William Weihe were convicted in the February 1995 killing of Dennis, the DA's office said. Dennis "was found viciously beaten to death late at night, after the laundromat had been robbed of approximately $1,100 in paper currency."

Despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime, Ramirez was "sentenced to life imprisonment on the strength of statements from friends implicating him, including testimony from co-defendant Weihe," the DA's office said.

Weihe pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and served five years in exchange for his testimony implicating Ramirez, Krasner's office said.

"Nearly all statements implicating Ramirez from fellow teenagers in his friend group – several of which were obtained after questioning by a police detective without a partner, guardian, or attorney present – have since been recanted," the DA's office said. "Several of the witnesses have since independently alleged that they were threatened and coerced by police into implicating Ramirez in the murder."

Paul Worrell was one of the detectives involved in getting the confessions, the DA's office said. He "is known to the court for a pattern and practice of eliciting false confessions dating back to at least 1992." Several of his other convictions have also been vacated.

The DA's office launched a Post Conviction Relief Act review and then officially let the court know in August that it appeared Ramirez's constitutional rights were violated and that he should "get relief."

"The relief granted today is an acknowledgement that Mr. Ramirez’s rights were violated, that he did not receive a fair trial, and that had certain information not been suppressed by police and prosecutors at the time, that the jury might well have reached a different conclusion," Krasner said in a news release. "We must also acknowledge the pain and trauma that Joyce Dennis’s loved ones have endured these many years. The criminal legal system also badly failed the victim of a horrendous violent crime and their loved ones."

The DA's office said it now has 30 days to review Ramirez's case and decide if they want to retry him or not pursue the vacated charges.