On October 16, 1986 I was arrested for my alleged participation in the July 13, 1986 robbery of Frank Tucker and Morris Johnson which lead to the murder of Mr. Tucker who was 21 yrs. old. Morris Johnson who was the only eyewitness to the crime never identified me to police. On the night he was questioned he gave several descriptions of the 2 guys he says robbed him and murdered Mr. Tucker. The tallest of the 2 guys he described was 5'9" tall and clean shaven. At the time of my arrest I was 6'1" tall with a mustache and goatee. Mr. Johnson identified my co-defendant out of a photo array as the person who killed Mr. Tucker. The only time Mr. Johnson ever identified me was several months later when I had my preliminary hearing. It is very obvious that he was told by the D.A. to identify me because without him the D.A. had no case against me. During my trial in 1988 Mr. Johnson testified that on the night of the murder he was drunk after having been in at least 5 bars where in each bar he consumed 3-5 glasses of straight Tanqeray Alcohol as well as 16 ounce bottles of Colt 45 Malt Liquor Beer. He also testified that he had been smoking marijuana. This drinking and smoking began at 4.00pm and lasted until the last bar closed at 2:00am. By law, after consuming this much alcohol Mr. Johnson was legally intoxicated and as such his testimony should not have been allowed. The Commonwealth attempted to use my son's mother as a witness against me because of a statement that she was threatened, intimidated and coerced into giving to homicide detectives. During her testimony she testified that she told homicide detectives that she had no knowledge of what happened. She was threatened with life imprisonment and the lost of our child if she didn't tell them that I was present when Mr. Tucker was killed. After several hours of being mentally, emotionally and physically tormented she eventually did what any women would do by telling them exactly what they wanted to hear.
In recent years these same illegal practices and tactics used by homicide detectives and district attorneys to obtain convictions have lead to many of those convictions being investigated by the Conviction Integrity Unit and eventually overturned by the D.A's office. In June 2017 my attorney Jerome M. Brown submitted my case to the CIU. As of this date we have not yet received a response. I've recently found out that all of the homicide detectives that were assigned to the investigation of my case have misconduct in their file that was investigated by Internal Affairs. The nature of their misconduct, which they will not divulge to me, could lead to my freedom. I am humbly asking you to support me in my fight for freedom by signing my "petition for justice" which will be forwarded to the office of Larry Krasner and Patricia Cummings who runs the Conviction Integrity Unit in the District Attorney's Office. Thanking you in advance for your time, understanding and support. Sincerely, Herndon "Sabur" Steele #AS-0758.