James "Jim" Kelly

James "Jim" Kelly -- Free after 28 Years of Wrongful Incarceration 

On July 18, 2024, James "Jim" Kelly walked out of Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Somerset after serving almost three decades in prison for a crime he did not commit. James, a proud father and veteran, is most excited to return home and see through his dream of having a modest house, a steady job, and spending plenty of time with his grandchildren. James was greeted by his family and Managing Attorney, Liz DeLosa, who led our team.  

How did this happen?

James' Wrongful Arrest and Conviction 

In the summer of 1993, James had recently applied for a promotion at work. When James got a call to come to City Hall, he believed it was related to the promotion. However, when he arrived, two homicide detectives accosted him with questions about the murder of Travis Hughston. 

On January 1, 1993, Travis Hughston was shot and killed as he left his girlfriend's home in North Philadelphia. Witnesses said that two men were involved in the shooting, and the police ultimately arrested James and an alleged co-conspirator Larry Mullins for the crime. The Commonwealth theorized that Hughston was killed due to an active drug territory dispute. However, the Commonwealth could never connect James, a full-time employee with the City of Philadelphia's sanitation department, to any previous history of drug dealing or to any territory dispute. 

James told detectives that he spent New Year's Day at home with his family and at the time of Hughston's shooting, he was meeting with the family's pastor, who had dropped by for a visit. Despite this, James was arrested and charged with homicide. 

On August 20,1996, James and his co-defendant were convicted of first-degree murder and other related charges and sentenced to life in prison. 

James' conviction was based on ever-changing, contradictory testimony from a woman who admitted to using crack cocaine and alcohol the day of the crime. The witness, Ernestine Williams, gave eight statements, only one of which identified James and another that identified a different person as the killer. Williams told jurors that Mullins walked up to Hughston and shot him in the head. 

The main detective on the case, Detective Walter Hoffner, admitted that the name "James" was not included in any of Williams' statements. Detective Hoffner explained that he had gotten the name because they "kept trying to pick her brain." Williams was also incentivized to testify. Prior to trial, the city of Philadelphia paid to have her relocated to a nicer neighborhood. 

No other witnesses identified James before trial; however, at trial, nearly three years after the crime, Colie Baxter identified James for the first time as a person who had been involved in the shooting. 

Our quest to prove his innocence...

James fought for decades after his conviction to prove his innocence. He filed multiple petitions and motions over the years, one of which included an ineffective assistance of counsel claim for trial counsel's failure to present his alibi and character witnesses. 

James wrote to us asking for help in 2009, the year the Project opened. We investigated his case but could not find new evidence of innocence that would allow him to go back to court and seek a new trial. In 2018, we asked the Conviction Integrity Unit and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to review the case. That review produced critical evidence of innocence that should have been provided to James before his trial. 

Among the hidden documents was Colie Baxter's original statement to police on the night of the homicide, in which he identified someone else as the shooter. The Project later learned that the person originally identified by Baxter owned the house Ernestine Williams lived in at the time of Hughston's homicide, and was intimately associated with a violent drug gang operating in that very North Philadelphia neighborhood. We also discovered Philadelphia Police Department documents demonstrating that the three men Hughston's brother identified as the actual perpetrators in this case were members of a North Philadelphia drug gang. The men were involved in several solved and unsolved homicides in this area that shared many similarities with Hughston's murder. All of this material could have been used to cross-examine Baxter about his identification, to cross-examine the detectives about their investigation, and to corroborate Hughston's brother's testimony for the defense about the true perpetrators. 

We filed post-conviction petitions seeking a new trial for James based on the evidence of his innocence that had been suppressed in violation of his constitutional rights. In May 2024, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office recommended that the Court grant our petition and vacate his convictions and sentences. Judge Glenn Bronson did so on June 12, 2024. On July 18, 2024, Judge Bronson granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss all charges against James, leading to his exoneration and release. 

Our team was led by Managing Attorney, Liz DeLosa and supported by Legal Director, Nilam Sanghvi. Many other Project staff members worked on this case over the years, including Charlotte Whitmore, Shaina Tyler, Zach Stern, Ryan Becker, Haley Filippine, and Anjali Nahata. 

James also received critical support during his journey from President Judge Wood and private investigator Eileen Law.