On July 31, 2025, pro bono client Edward Wright was released from prison and reunited with his family after being wrongfully incarcerated for more than 41 years for a murder in Springfield, Massachusetts, that he did not commit. The release followed a decision in April by Hampden County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Bucci to vacate Mr. Wright’s conviction, citing police and prosecutorial misconduct, including the withholding of exculpatory evidence and presenting of false testimony. In early July, a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice denied an appeal of that decision by the commonwealth, which could still retry Mr. Wright’s case despite previously calling it “not re-triable.”
Mr. Wright consistently maintained his innocence and worked tirelessly to overturn his conviction, even using funds from a civil rights judgment he secured against the Department of Corrections to pay for his own DNA testing. New evidence now supports Mr. Wright’s innocence and connects another individual to the crime.
Boston litigation counsel Nigel Tamton served as co-counsel for Mr. Wright, in partnership with the New England Innocence Project.
“The Commonwealth was right when they told Judge Bucci last September that Mr. Wright’s case is not re-triable,” said Mr. Tamton in a statement published by the New England Innocence Project. “As Judge Bucci recognized, the original conviction was flawed. And there is no new evidence the Commonwealth could rely on. Instead, for 41 years, Mr. Wright has piled up evidence showing he is innocent and someone else likely committed this murder. That is what the jury would see at any new trial.”