District Attorney Larry Krasner Announces Exoneration of Three Co-Defendants for 1997 North Philadelphia Murder

PHILADELPHIA (May 26, 2026) –  Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and the DAO’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) on Tuesday secured the exoneration of Mark Brittingham, Jermel Shuler, and Rasheed Smith for the 1997 murder of an elderly woman in her North Philadelphia home.

Brittingham, Shuler, and Smith were convicted in November 1998 of second-degree murder in the death of Essie Thomas, 73, and sentenced to mandatory life in prison. No witness purported to see or hear the attack and no forensic or physical evidence tied any of the men to the crime. Re-examination of the incident, however, found significant issues with the assistant medical examiner’s testimony about the time of death, which undermined the integrity of these convictions.

“I want to thank ADA Rebecca McDonald and CIU Supervisor Matthew Stiegler for their work in this important case,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner. “This office is committed to both public safety and freedom, and when we have people sitting in jail potentially for the rest of their lives and their conviction lacks integrity, we are compelled to overturn that conviction in the interest of freedom and fairness.”

“The Commonwealth is constrained to conclude that the trial medical examiner’s findings were unreliable and that the new forensic pathology evidence casting grave doubt on the medical examiner’s testimony likely would have compelled a different verdict,” said Assistant District Attorney Rebecca McDonald. “Undoing these wrongful convictions took years of intense effort by the CIU and we are confident that the correct result was reached today.”

A single witness claimed to have seen Brittingham (DOB: 10/24/78), Shuler (DOB: 06/14/79) and Smith (DOB: 10/1/78) exiting Thomas’s house on the night of Saturday, Nov. 8, 1997, the last day Thomas was known to be alive. The Commonwealth’s case rested upon that witness testimony and the assistant medical examiner’s autopsy findings that placed Saturday night within the window for the victim’s time of death. The witness faced significant credibility issues at trial. Moreover, as part of their post-conviction appeal, the petitioners put forth a forensic pathologist’s expert report challenging the medical examiner’s findings. The CIU retained its own board certified forensic pathology expert, who, based upon the same information available to the medical examiner at trial, also challenged the medical examiner’s range for time of death.

After the CIU disclosed its expert’s findings and information undermining the credibility of the assistant medical examiner, petitioners’ counsel filed amendments to their joint 2022 Post Conviction Relief Act petition, arguing that both disclosures constituted “after discovered evidence” entitling them to PCRA relief. The Commonwealth agreed that relief was warranted on those claims.

In vacating the convictions and granting a motion to nolle pros the charges, the Honorable Jennifer Schultz cited disciplinary actions against the medical examiner that were discovered after the trial.

“The conviction of these three men was a grave injustice and we are proud that the Conviction Integrity Unity helped to fix it,” said Assistant District Attorney Matthew Stiegler, Supervisor of the CIU. “We commend Judge Schultz for her fairness and her care in reaching this just result.”

As of today, District Attorney Krasner’s administration has supported 59 exonerations of wrongfully convicted people.