A Philadelphia man on death row for killing a 4-year-old girl over three decades ago was convicted on flawed evidence — including a coerced confession – and is “likely innocent,” prosecutors said.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office asked a judge last week in court documents to vacate the 1996 conviction of Walter Ogrod, 55, in the murder of Barbara Jean Horn, whose naked body was found inside a television box in July 1988 near her family’s home in Northeast Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Ogrod, who lived across the street from the girl at the time of the slaying, should be freed from prison after spending 23 years on death row based off a “perfect storm of unreliable scientific evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, Brady violations and false testimony,” according to court documents filed by District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office.
Ogrod’s conviction, according to prosecutors, is a “gross miscarriage of justice” that occurred despite “no credible evidence to prove” that he molested and killed Barbara Jean, who likely died of asphyxiation instead of being fatally beaten with a weight bar as police and prosecutors had claimed decades ago.
Two detectives in the case “engaged in coercive tactics” while obtaining false confessions or statements in at least two homicide cases before they interrogated Ogrod, prosecutors claim.
Two informants also “colluded” together in implicating Ogrod in the girl’s death, asserting that he had confessed to killing Barbara Jean while jailed alongside them, according to Krasner’s office.
A spokeswoman for Krasner declined to comment on the case Tuesday and Ogrod’s attorneys did not return requests for comment, the Inquirer reports.
Ogrod, who convicted in 1996 after his first trial ended in a mistrial, is due in court on March 27. A judge is expected to determine whether to vacate his conviction, clearing the path for his release from prison, according to the newspaper.
Prosecutors now believe Ogrod’s alleged confession to two detectives in the case who have since retired – Martin Devlin and Paul Worrell – is not credible since he was sleep-deprived and coerced at the time.
Ogrod recanted almost immediately, according to the Inquirer, and Krasner’s office has found a “plethora of information” on Devlin and Worrell using coercive tactics to obtain confessions from suspects, according to court documents.
Both Devlin and Worrell have not commented on the misconduct allegations, the Inquirer reports.
Prosecutors also relied on Ogrod’s alleged jailhouse confession to a man who had “severe” mental health issues, evidence that wasn’t disclosed during his second trial, according to Krasner’s office.
The assertion that Ogrod beat the girl with a weight bar is “demonstrably false,” prosecutors said in court documents.
The prosecutor who handled Ogrod’s case, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing, NBC Philadelphia reported in late January.
“I haven’t seen anything to indicate he didn’t do, that he’s innocent,” former Assistant District Attorney Judith Rubino told the station. “If there is, I haven’t seen it.”
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