The city of Philadelphia announced last week that it will pay $9.8 million to a man who spent almost 30 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.
Chester Hollman III was convicted in 1993 for the murder of a University of Pennsylvania student who was fatally shot during a botched robbery. Hollman, then 21, had no criminal record and had a job as an armored car driver when he was pulled over in 1991 and charged with killing the university student Tae-Jung Ho.
Hollman served 28 years in prison for second-degree murder and robbery based on the statements of two people who later recanted.
He was released in July 2019 at the age of 49. The judge who ordered his release cited evidence that prosecutors built their case on testimony of coerced witnesses and withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.
Hollman’s neighbor Deirdre Jones had been riding with Hollman when he was arrested. One of the two key witnesses against him in his 1993 trial, she recanted her testimony in a 2012 hearing, saying she had been coerced into lying and threatened with arrest when she was detained with Hollman. The court did not reopen the case in 2012 because the case detective denied her claims and the judge did not believe Jones’ recantation.
The other witness, Andre Dawkins, recanted his testimony in 2001. He said he provided false testimony in order to help his own pending burglary case. No physical evidence linked Hollman to the crime.
Hollman was only released from Luzerne County Prison after Philadelphia’s Conviction Integrity Unit concluded that prosecutors had withheld evidence because it did not fit the narrative that was already being built around Hollman as the killer. Prosecutors claimed Hollman struggled with the student while another suspect shot him. His lawyers claim he was pinned for the murder because he was Black and because he was found just minutes after the slaying driving a white SUV matching the description of the killers’ getaway car.
“There are no words to express what was taken from me,” Hollman said in a statement. “But this settlement closes out a difficult chapter in my life as my family and I now embark on a new one.” He had maintained his innocence both before and after his conviction. His payout is $50,000 less than the city’s record for similar settlements.
Hollman had not yet filed a suit. He moved in with his father in Delaware after his release to adjust to life and adopted the dog he had worked with in a prison program while behind bars.
No one has been charged in the killing of the student.
