A Philly man is freed, and 2 others win new trials in cases tainted by predator detective

Marvin Hill has spent more than a decade in prison for the 2010 murder of Stacey Sharpe in North Philadelphia — a crime that the District Attorney’s Office has now conceded he could not have committed.

But on Thursday, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott ordered Hill released from the State Correctional Institution Somerset on bail, pending his formal exoneration. In July 2021, McDermott had rejected the DA’s analysis finding Hill was innocent. But, a year and a half later, the Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned that opinion this month and said Hill’s conviction could not stand.

“It would be manifestly unjust,” McDermott said Thursday, “for him to spend another day in jail.”

Hill appeared by video from Somerset in Western Pennsylvania, but his sobs could be heard in the background as lawyers requested paperwork for his immediate release.

Hill’s conviction is one of three cases tied to former homicide detective Philip Nordo to be tossed out in the last two months.

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In December, Nordo was sentenced to 24½ to 49 years in prison for crimes including rape and official oppression. Those charges were tied to his sexual abuse of three men he encountered while investigating murder cases, and to his misappropriation of tens of thousands of dollars in city reward money.

Since police and prosecutors began investigating Nordo’s misconduct in 2017, at least 13 murder convictions he worked on have been vacated.

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In 2021, the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit said it had compiled evidence “scientifically proving Hill was not the shooter”: He could be seen on surveillance video outside a store a block and a half away within a few seconds of when the shooting occurred.

McDermott had previously refused to overturn her verdict from 2013, when Hill waived his right to a jury trial and opted for the judge to hear his case. In her opinion last year dismissing his petition, she suggested that Hill could have disappeared from the frame of the video in the opposite direction from the shooting and circled around a back alleyway to commit the murder, with “ample time” to jog back the same way he’d come.

Hill, according to integrity unit prosecutors, also did not match the description of the shooter given by witnesses on the scene. Several witnesses in the case alleged detectives — chiefly Nordo — coerced and threatened them or fabricated statements. One recanted at Hill’s trial, saying detectives handcuffed him to a chair and threatened to charge him with murder unless he signed a statement accusing Hill.

Hill, too, was detained for questioning. He said in an interview that he met Nordo in the interview room. “He wrapped his arm around me. He’s like, Man, listen, everything gonna be alright, man. Just relax. I’m gonna help you out of this.”

Then, he said the detective brought up the topic of gay porn. Hill laughed it off, he said — and Nordo bristled. “[If] you don’t take me serious, I’m going make your life a living hell. … I can make sure this stuff sticks.”

He said the detective began massaging his shoulders, then touching his thighs, offering “a favor for a favor.” When he resisted, he said, Nordo got angry and told him. “I’m going to make sure you never see the daylight again.”

The Superior Court, however, ordered Hill’s conviction must be vacated not because of Nordo’s alleged misconduct but because Hill’s defense lawyer was ineffective for failing to obtain 911 call logs that proved Hill was on video when the shooting occurred.

According to prosecutors, some of Sharpe’s family members said they believed in Hill’s innocence, while his brother was horrified by what he viewed as a guilty man being allowed “to get away with” murder. His relatives did not immediately return calls Thursday, or hung up when contacted by a reporter.

The DA’s Office has reviewed 108 cases involving potential misconduct by Nordo, according to Michael Garmisa, supervisor of the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

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“This is an individual who did a tremendous amount of damage to the criminal justice system, and he did it for a very long time,” Garmisa said. “And, it’s important that we have accountability now.”

In January, Judge Scott DiClaudio agreed to overturn the conviction of Joshua Raheem — convicted of killing John Carrington in 2013 and shooting two other people with him on a porch in West Philadelphia. In that case, a key witness testified in two murder trials in one day and later received a $20,000 reward with Nordo’s help. But the payment and the witness’ double-duty were never disclosed. The witness claimed the detective repeatedly called to tell him the money should be “kept low-key.”

DiClaudio agreed that “confidence in this jury’s verdict has been tainted beyond repair.”

He said he tossed the case with “great hesitation.” The DA’s Office has not said whether it would retry Raheem, who has medical records showing he had surgery three days before the murder that put his right hand — the hand the gunman used to shoot — in a cast from fingers to elbow.

And in December, Judge Lillian Ransom ordered a new trial for Neftali Velazquez, who had alleged that his conviction for the 2012 murder of Domingo Rivera outside a bar in North Philadelphia was rife with misconduct. Nordo had attempted to get the probation department to detain a witness — then, when it would not do so, simply held him for 23 hours until he gave a statement. In 2019, the DA’s Office also disclosed for the first time records showing that a different key eyewitness had told the prosecutor before trial she had not seen the killer’s face; the prosecutor, however, failed to turn over his notes from that conversation, deeming them privileged “work product.”

After Thursday’s hearing, Hill’s mother, Katrina, was shaking as she thanked the CIU prosecutors, and made plans for one last long drive to the prison to pick up her son. The first stop will be to surprise his 11-year-old daughter, she said, beaming as she imagined what her granddaughter’s reaction will be.

“This is the best moment ever right now,” she said. “It’s been 12 years. We aren’t getting that time back. … I’m just glad this is over with.”