Background: The location where Akeem Edwards was shot to death in 2023 (Google Maps). Inset: Shaurn Thomas (Pennsylvania Innocence Project).
A Philadelphia man who served 24 years in prison before being exonerated from a life sentence after his murder conviction was vacated is back behind bars for another killing — and he’s pleaded guilty this time.
Shaurn Thomas, 50, is heading back to prison for the 2023 shooting death of Akeem Edwards, 38, which allegedly stemmed from a dispute over money and cocaine, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. According to Philadelphia Fox affiliate WTXF, Edwards was gunned down on the 3500 block of Germantown Avenue in the early afternoon on Jan. 3, 2023.
Thomas pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder, conspiracy and illegal gun possession.
The judge overseeing Thomas’ case was apparently blown away by his past after he came up on her docket, with the Inquirer reporting that she appeared visibly stunned.
“Are these facts true?” Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne Covington asked Thomas.
“Yes, your Honor,” he said back.
Thomas now faces a possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison for the second time following his 1994 conviction for the murder of Domingo Martinez. The north Philadelphia businessman was shot and killed in 1990 while delivering $25,000 to one of his check-cashing stores in the area. Thomas, who was 20 years old at the time, was accused of being part of a group of gang members known as the “G-Boys” who set upon Martinez while he was making his delivery — robbing and gunning him down, the Innocence Project reports.
“On December 19, 1994, Shaurn Thomas was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life without parole,” the legal group says. “In August 2011, James Figorski, a lawyer at the firm of Dechert LLP and a former Philadelphia police officer, filed a Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition on Mr. Thomas’ behalf with The Pennsylvania Innocence Project as co-counsel.”
Evidence was presented to the PCRA Court allegedly proving Thomas’ innocence, but a new trial was denied. It was the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit that eventually got the DA to vacate Thomas’ conviction on appeal in 2017 and expunge his records after discovering 36 pages of “undisclosed witness statements pointing to other suspects,” the Innocence Project reports, despite prosecutors saying they were “not completely convinced” he was innocent.
Thomas also received a $4.1 million settlement from the city of Philadelphia after his exoneration.
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach the Pennsylvania Innocence Project for comment were unsuccessful Monday.
Thomas has served as a flag-bearer for the legal advocacy group and inmates who are wrongfully convicted since his release from prison, appearing in videos and social media posts to discuss his exoneration.
“I ain’t seen none of my 20s, I ain’t seen none of my 30s,” he said in a 2019 video for the media outlet Freethink. “So, it was frustrating, but I said I’m going to take that negative energy and turn it positive. They ain’t going to never take this smile. Even after 24 years I ain’t going to let that happen.”
The family for Edwards told the Inquirer after his guilty plea was entered that “there’s not enough time for them to possibly give him.” Thomas was accused of ambushing and fatally shooting Edwards after he failed to pay Thomas $1,200 that he owed for a sandwich baggie filled with cocaine that he sold him.
A female witness who was with Thomas when he killed Edwards told cops and prosecutors that he was freaking out after the killing and made ominous statements related to his past.
“He said it’s his third homicide and he said he can’t go back to jail,” the witness said in court, according to the Inquirer. Thomas also allegedly told her to “keep my mouth quiet or else.”
It was not clear what the third alleged homicide was. Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
