An 81-year-old man was exonerated this week, more than 50 years after he was convicted of murder.
Paul Gatling was found guilty of killing Lawrence Rothbort in 1963. Rothbort was shot in his home in Brooklyn by a man who broke in and demanded money, alleged his wife.
Gatling's case was rife with misconduct. There was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime, and Rothbort's wife couldn't pick him out of a lineup. Gatling was only implicated after another man claimed to have seen him in the area—but according to Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, that man "was a witness in other cases and was known to have committed perjury."
What's more, CBS News reports that "[d]efense attorneys were never given some police reports, including a description of the suspect as several years younger than Gatling."
Regardless of the shoddy evidence, Gatling was convicted after Rothbort's wife eventually stated that he was the killer, despite the fact that she was previously unable to identify him. From CBS News:
As the trial was underway, Gatling's attorney and family pressed him to plead guilty to second-degree murder, afraid that he would otherwise face the death penalty if convicted. He agreed, and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in October 1964. His sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller at the behest of the Legal Aid Society and he was released in January 1974.
“The cops told me they would make sure I was convicted and the lawyers said they were going to execute me. I was a young black man. With the white, pregnant wife in front of an all-white jury pointing me out, it was over,” Gatling told NBC News.
Gatling was just 29 when he was convicted, and served nine years in prison.
Thompson agrees that Gatling was convicted unjustly and treated unfairly. NBC reports:
“Paul Gatling repeatedly proclaimed his innocence even as he faced the death penalty back in the 60s,” the DA said in a statement. “He was pressured to plead guilty and, sadly, did not receive a fair trial. Today, 52 years later, he will be given back his good name and receive justice here in Brooklyn, where he once called home.”
Gatling has had to face countless systemic obstacles due to his criminal conviction, but the one he’s most looking forward to regaining is the right to vote. “Most of all, I just want to vote before I die,” he told NBC News.
Still, he remains regretful that he was not able to vote for President Obama. “That’s a big deal for me,” he said to NBC. “I couldn’t vote for the first black president.”
Gatling was cleared through Thompson's Conviction Integrity Unit. That unit, one of the most impressive of its kind, has exonerated 20 people in just two years.