Project Innocence Lawyers Celebrated $4M Payout for Freed Convicted Drug Dealer, Only for Him to Commit Another Murder

A former inmate who was wrongly convicted for murder has now been found guilty for another killing after lawyers won him a $4.1million payout and boasted about securing his freedom. 

Upon Shaurn Thomas’ release after two decades behind bars, lawyers celebrated the overturning of the conviction and congratulated themselves for giving the ‘innocent man’ a future. 

Attorney James Figorski – who had worked on the case pro-bono since 2011 and met Thomas outside prison when he was freed – said he ‘ecstatic’ upon his release.

This was in 2017 when, with the help of the Innocence Project, Thomas’ conviction for the murder of Domingo Martinez in 1990 was overturned.  

Figorski said: ‘It is gratifying to know that we were able to help Shaurn Thomas obtain his freedom after witnessing the injustice to which he was subjected. 

‘All of us are ecstatic that Shaurn Thomas will finally be free with his family.’ 

Then in 2020, the same lawyers helped Thomas secure a record breaking $4.1million from the City of Philadelphia. At the time Dechert Attorneys, who worked alongside the Innocence Project, celebrated the deal as a ‘historic settlement’.

Figorski told local media at the time: ‘There were clearly flaws in the system at the time at best and those flaws are being addressed today in the court.’ 

But last Thursday their client pleaded guilty in court to killing 38-year-old Akeem Edwards on January 3, 2023 over a $1,200 drug debt. 

And his girlfriend made the shocking testament that Thomas admitted this was the third time he had killed. 

This comes just seven years after Thomas made headlines across the nation after his murder conviction was overturned after he served 24 years behind bars. 

Thomas had long maintained his innocence – arguing at the time of 78-year-old Martinez’s death he was incarcerated at a juvenile jail. 

Attorneys from the Innocence Project discovered detectives knew Thomas had a potential alibi, and even had 36 pages of undisclosed witness statements pointing to other suspects, but zeroed in on Thomas because of statements made by two alleged co-conspirators.

Those co-conspirators’ stories, however, changed over time, and one even wound up recanting his testimony – claiming that police fed him a false story and assaulted him until he repeated it.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office ultimately declined to retry the case, despite prosecutors saying they were not entirely convinced Thomas was innocent.

Thomas was then released from prison and said at the time he had ‘no animosity’ toward the police, and planned to ‘just move on forward,’ according to ABC News.

Former police officer-turned lawyer Figorski worked on the case pro-bono for over eight years and in a statement upon his release said: ‘Shaurn engaged in a decades’ long struggle to prove his innocence.

‘I joined him in that struggle, and many times it seemed that we would never succeed and he would remain in prison for the rest of his life.’

When he received his multimillion-dollar settlement three years later, it was the second largest of its kind in American history. 

It was upon his release that Thomas met Edwards through Ketra Veasy, whose brother Willie had his murder case overturned in 2019, who he met at a network of other Philadelphians who were freed from prison after their convictions overturned.

The two dated on-and-off for six years, and last fall, Thomas asked her to connect him with her childhood friend, Edwards, to see if he might sell some cocaine for him, prosecutors had said.

The ex-convict then gave Edwards a sandwich bag filled with drugs and told him to bring back $1,200 from the proceeds, which Edwards never paid by January 3, 2023.

That day, Thomas and Veasy met at her Delaware home and drove to Philadelphia to run some errands.

But before they returned home, she said, Thomas suggested they drive through the neighborhood to see if they could find Edwards.

When they ultimately spotted him, Veasy said, Thomas got out out of the car.

She later testified that she did not know he had a gun with him that day and never wished any harm on Edwards.

But soon, she heard gunshots and saw Thomas running back to the car and putting the gun in his waist band.

He told her, ‘He’s hit, he’s down, just drive,’ Veasy recounted, saying she did just that.

After committing the murder, Veasy said Thomas made a shocking admission.

‘He said it’s his third homicide and he said he can’t go back to jail,’ Veasy testified.

She further claimed Thomas told her he knew where her children and her family lived and to ‘keep my mouth quiet or else’. 

But a few weeks later, a federal informant told homicide detectives that Thomas had discussed Edwards’ murder with him and said Veasy was with him.

The informant also claimed Thomas put out a hit on Veasy out of concern she might cooperate with investigators, the Inquirer reports.

That led to a search of Thomas’ home, where cops recovered five guns and a Gap hoodie that resembled the one Edwards’ shooter wore.

Thomas was then arrested and charged with illegal gun possession, but was released on bail.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia police continued their investigation, and received cell phone data that placed Veasy and Thomas at the scene.

They were both arrested in March and charged with murder.

While behind bars, Thomas sent Veasy letters she said were intimidating, and she ultimately agreed to cooperate with police and testify against Thomas in exchange for less serious charges.

Veasy wound up pleading guilty last year to aggravated assault and conspiracy charges, and is awaiting sentencing.

For his part, Thomas did not deny any of the claims in court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to six crimes, including third-degree murder, conspiracy and illegal gun possession.

He is due to be sentenced in February.

DailyMail.com have approached the Innocence Project and Dechert Attorneys for a comment.