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NEW YORK (AP) Prosecutors have turned down an inmate’s bid to be cleared in the 1998 killing of a retired police officer, an exoneration effort championed by actor Martin Sheen. After an.
today, woodford says he sticks to what he said in court. with the kid that i said did it, that s who did it. but he was surprised his testimony was all that important. i didn t turn him in. somebody else turned him in. all right? they had to have some kind of evidence. they didn t just take my word for it. detectives didn t take his word for it. they had several other witnesses. velazquez s new lawyers, celia gordon and bob gottlieb, have been conducting their own investigation into the case. our investigaor located philip jones and spoke with philip jones. he gave the lawyers a sworn affidavit where he recanted all of his testimony, raising serious doubt about who actually committed the murder. you know philip jones? we wanted to confirm his story, so we went looking for him. i m looking for philip jones? no. philip jones? no. eventually, we found him outside his homes in queen, new york, he asked us to come inside
the day of the crime. it was a tuesday, january 27th, in 1998. attorneys bob gotlieb and celia gordon represent velazquez. there was a numbers spot, an illegal gambling joint in harlem owned by a retired police officer by the name of albert ward. and there were plenty of people inside. the people we re talking about were all drug dealers, drug users. people like lorenzo woodford. i started using drugs when i was about 10. woodford said he came to the numbers spot that day about noon to buy heroin. a few minutes later, two men barged in. it was a robbery. i heard someone say, give it up [ bleep ], give it up. this guy stuck a gun in my face. oh, man. one man had a gun and the other duct tape and began tying people up. all hell breaks loose. al ward, who is a retired police officer, has a gun. he takes out the gun. there was a struggle and then gunfire. i heard all these shots,
somebody doing life because i said it was him and it possibly could not have been him. there it is. the most important eyewitness telling us it was possible he picked the wrong man. you think about this when you go to bed at night? it always crosses my mind. after an admission like brown s, not to mention the statements of those other recanting witnesses, lawyers gottlieb and gordon say you can only come to one conclusion. he is as innocent of albert ward s murder as i am. he s innocent. i m certain. they re about to take this investigation to the manhattan district attorney, but some legal heavyweights in new york say this case is no slam dunk. once the defendant is convicted, it is an uphill battle and the odds are against you. coming up j.j. doesn t just want the d.a. to believe him. there s someone else who may matter even more. i m almost there, jay.