PHILADELPHIA, PA – David Sparks, from Nicetown, was ordered to be released from prison by Court of Common Pleas Judge Scott DiClaudio on Monday.
The release order comes after serving 15 years for a murder conviction that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) has now deemed likely wrongful.
The CIU found significant constitutional violations in Sparks’ trial for the 2006 murder of Gary Hall, including the suppression of witness information and ballistics evidence.
New ballistics tests linked the murder weapon to another suspect, Ivan Simmons, who was also considered a suspect in a related murder and was killed in December 2006.
The CIU’s findings have led to the vacating of Sparks’ 2008 conviction and his expected release from prison.
