Derrick Deacon
Case Details
Served: 24 years
Year of Exoneration: 2013
Year of Conviction: 1989
Sentence: 25 to life
Conviction: Murder
County: Kings
Derrick Deacon was exonerated in 2013 after serving 24 years for a murder he didn’t commit. Derrick was arrested even though he did not fit the physical description of the perpetrator. He testified on his own behalf and denied involvement in the crime, but in December 1989, a jury convicted Derrick and sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison.
In 2001, a cooperating witness told federal prosecutors that Derrick was not the killer. Unbelievably, none of the law enforcement officials at that meeting notified Derrick of the statement. It took another three years before Derrick found out - from a convict who had a copy of the statement in his file.
In 2007, EXI took on Derrick’s case and began a six year battle to prove Derrick’s innocence. On November 18, 2013, the jury at Derrick’s retrial deliberated only nine minutes before finding him not-guilty.
