How Project Innocence lawyers boasted about ‘feeling ecstatic’ when they freed killer drug dealer and won him a $4m payout… before he went on to kill ANOTHER man

A former inmate wrongly convicted of murder has now been found guilty of another murder after lawyers secured him a $4.1 million payout and bragged about securing his freedom.

Following the release of Shaurn Thomas after 20 years behind bars, lawyers celebrated the overturning of the conviction and congratulated themselves on giving the ‘innocent man’ a future.

Attorney James Figorski — who had worked pro bono on the case since 2011 and met Thomas outside the jail when he was released — said he was “ecstatic” after his release.

This was in 2017 when, with the help of the Innocence Project, Thomas’ conviction for the 1990 murder of Domingo Martinez was overturned.

Figorski said, “It is gratifying to know that we were able to help Shaurn Thomas gain his freedom after witnessing the injustice he was subjected to.

“We are all ecstatic that Shaurn Thomas will finally be free with his family.”

Then in 2020, the same attorneys helped Thomas secure a record $4.1 million from the city of Philadelphia. Dechert Advocaten, who worked with the Innocence Project, celebrated the deal at the time as a ‘historic settlement’.

Figorski told local media at the time: “There were, at best, clear flaws in the system at the time and those flaws are being addressed in court today.”

But last Thursday, their client pleaded guilty in court to the murder of 38-year-old Akeem Edwards on January 3, 2023 over a $1,200 drug debt.

And his girlfriend made the shocking testament that Thomas admitted this was the third time he had killed.

This comes just seven years after Thomas made headlines across the country after his murder conviction was overturned after spending 24 years behind bars.

Thomas had long maintained his innocence, arguing that he was incarcerated in a juvenile detention center at the time of 78-year-old Martinez’s death.

Lawyers for the Innocence Project found that detectives knew Thomas had a potential alibi, and even had 36 pages of secret witness statements pointing to other suspects, but focused on Thomas because of statements from two alleged co-conspirators.

However, those co-conspirators’ stories changed over time, and one of them even recanted his testimony – claiming that police fed him a false story and assaulted him until he repeated it.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office ultimately declined to retry the case, despite prosecutors saying they were not entirely convinced Thomas was innocent.

Thomas was subsequently released from jail and said at the time that he had “no animosity” toward police and planned to “just move on,” according to ABC News.

Former police officer and attorney Figorski worked pro bono on the case for more than eight years and said in a statement after his release: “Shaurn waged a decades-long battle to prove his innocence.

“I joined him in that fight, and many times it seemed like we would never succeed and he would spend the rest of his life in prison.”

When he received his multimillion-dollar settlement three years later, it was the second largest of its kind in American history.

Upon his release, Thomas met Edwards through Ketra Veasy, whose brother Willie had his murder case overturned in 2019, whom he met in a network of other Philadelphians released from prison after their convictions were overturned.

The two dated for six years, and last fall Thomas asked her to put him in touch with her childhood friend, Edwards, to see if he could sell him some cocaine, prosecutors had said.

The ex-con then gave Edwards a sandwich bag filled with drugs and told him to bring back $1,200 from the proceeds, which Edwards never paid on January 3, 2023.

That day, Thomas and Veasy met at her home in Delaware and drove to Philadelphia to run some errands.

But before they returned home, she said, Thomas suggested they drive around the neighborhood to see if they could find Edwards.

When they finally saw him, Veasy said, Thomas got out of the car.

She later testified that she did not know he had a gun with him that day and that she never meant to harm Edwards.

But soon she heard gunshots and saw Thomas running back to the car and putting the gun in his waistband.

He told her, ‘He’s been hit, he’s down, just drive,'” Veasy recounted, saying she did just that.

After committing the murder, Veasy said Thomas made a shocking confession.

“He said it was his third murder and he couldn’t go back to prison,” Veasy testified.

She further alleged that Thomas told her he knew where her children and her family lived and that he should “keep my mouth shut or else.”

But a few weeks later, a federal informant told homicide detectives that Thomas had discussed Edwards’ murder with him and said Veasy was with him.

The informant also claimed that Thomas attacked Veasy out of fear that she would cooperate with investigators, the Inquirer reported.

That led to a search of Thomas’ home, where police found five guns and a Gap hoodie similar to the one Edwards’ shooter was wearing.

Thomas was subsequently arrested and charged with illegal possession of a weapon, but was released on bail.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia police continued their investigation and received cell phone records that placed Veasy and Thomas on the scene.

They were both arrested in March and charged with murder.

While behind bars, Thomas sent Veasy letters that she said were intimidating, and she eventually agreed to cooperate with police and testify against Thomas in exchange for less serious charges.

Veasy pleaded guilty last year to aggravated assault and conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.

Thomas, for his part, denied any of the claims in court Thursday and pleaded guilty to six crimes, including third-degree murder, conspiracy and illegal possession of a weapon.

He will be sentenced in February.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Innocence Project and Dechert Advocaten for comment.