Another Philadelphia Drug Conviction Overturned Because of Cop's Testimony
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Another drug related conviction in Philadelphia is being dismissed, because it is linked to testimony from one of six allegedly corrupt narcotics officers.
Public defender Bradley Bridge says his client, Miguel Mendez, has had a drug conviction against him dismissed and he will be released from prison. That's because the officer involved, Brian Reynolds, was among six indicted by the FBI in July.
Bridge says this may be the first of many convictions overturned because of possibly corrupt testimony.
"It's not clear what happened in any of these individual cases," Bridge said today. "Some people might very well have been guilty. A lot of people, I know, were not guilty, and the end result is that we could not have any confidence in a conviction based upon the testimony of any of these police officers. And it's for that reason that the Commonwealth is, commendably, agreeing that they should be reopened and dismissed."
One hundred two convictions based on the testimony of one officer have already been dismissed. Bridge says a comparable number of convictions may be dismissed for each of the other officers.