Pennsylvania man who spent years in prison sues over withheld evidence

The trial did not move forward until four years after the murder.

Outlaw's attorneys allege the city and its police department turned a blind eye to unconstitutional practices by homicide detectives — withholding evidence that indicated someone else's guilt and intimidating and paying witnesses to provide false statements — that hampered Outlaw's ability to get a fair trial and violated his civil and constitutional rights. "Mr. Outlaw’s wrongful incarceration was the direct result of egregious misconduct by Defendants," his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Eastern District of Pennsylvania. "Defendants improperly used their power and position to coerce witnesses into making false statements and identifications, and to offer sworn testimony that they knew to be false," the attorneys wrote. "Defendants also withheld exculpatory evidence that would have demonstrated Mr. Outlaw’s innocence and deliberately disregarded information and evidence that would have demonstrated flaws in the case against him."