Man Who Spent 16 Years in Prison for Murder He Didn't Commit Exonerated by Surveillance Video

Mar. 15, 2025

Arvel Marshall.Photo:ABC7NY/YouTube

ABC7NY/YouTube

A Brooklyn man who was convicted of a 2008 murder was exonerated after surveillance footage of the crime pointed to another suspect.

Arvel Marshall, 52, was sentenced to 25 years to life in 2009, after he was convicted of the July 15, 2008 murder of Moustapha Oumaria, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office says.

The conviction was vacated after the DA’s Conviction Review Unit determined that he was unjustly found guilty. For years, Marshall maintained his innocence.

Before and during his trial, the CRU determined, Marshall repeatedly requested surveillance video footage, which was never shown, in part because of technical difficulties. But the video was playable, and had it been turned over to the defense, the trial likely would have had a different outcome.

“…the prosecutor was unable to play the video in court, making several attempts to do so,” the DA’s office said. “He said that his understanding was that the stills represented the pertinent parts of the footage, and that the video has ‘no evidentiary value.’ It appears that no one actually watched the entire video, and the issue was not pursued later in the trial.”

The video footage depicts two young men in the area around the time of the murder. One of the young men wore clothing matching an eyewitness description of the shooter, and removed an “object” from his waistband. A tipster told a defense investigator that the shooter was a teenager. Marshall was 36 at the time of the shooting.

The review of the case also found that Marshall’s attorney “did little to prepare for trial and had little or no regard for [the] defendant.”

WABC

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“They knew I was innocent,” Marshall said after his release, according to the outlet. “They knew I could prove my innocence. So, they tried to keep it under the table. They were hoping I’d just shut up and just accept everything that they did to me. And I said, ‘nah, I’m going to fight.'”

A suspect in Oumaria’s killing has not been identified at this time.

source: people.com