On Feb. 27, a judge approved a motion from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to dismiss first-degree murder, arson and aggravated assault charges against Daniel Gwynn, 54, who had been on death row for nearly 30 years. The exoneration of Daniel Gwynn today frees a man who is likely innocent. Sadly, it also exemplifies an era of inexact and, at times, corrupt policing and prosecution that has broken trust with our communities to this day, District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a press release. The public expects the right consequences for those who commit violent crimes, and wants the innocent to be free. When law enforcement wrongly arrests, prosecutes, and imprisons the innocent, the guilty go free and are emboldened to do more harm. Engel was Gwynn’s co-counsel. She recalled the moment when she, her co-counsel and fellow supporters of Gwynn greeted the freed man as he walked out of prison. Daniel arrives in Anchorage early morning on Sunday, July 27th.
