Marcus Washington sports a T-shirt saying “I didn’t do it” printed on the chest. While he’s steadfast in his contention that he and his childhood friend Herbert Sims are innocent of a Dec. 1975 murder, they both hope courts will listen to a conviction challenge filed by them. No physical evidence exists against Sims and Washington, who were both 16-years-old when the killing of Mary Galligan, 71, in Far Rockaway, Queens, happened. Witness testimonies were instrumental in prosecuting the two, although many are now recanted with claims of alleged police coercion.
This new conviction challenge, filed on May 7, suggests an alleged actual killer fed the NYPD information about the two teens, along with another boy named Charles Ellis, both during the original investigation and three years later when police arrested him for another woman’s death.
Galligan was strangled to death and possibly sexually assaulted with an object. Her apartment was also set on fire. Sims and Washington knew about confidential details from the murder. But they claim this information came from a neighborhood acquaintance when Washington encountered the crime scene, which he retold to Sims, along with Sims’ then-girlfriend, her family, and possibly another close friend. Police later interrogated those individuals and, years later, revisited their investigation against Washington, who passed an initial polygraph test when asked if he killed Galligan.
Among the new evidence is a sworn statement from the alternative suspect’s brother claiming he confessed to murdering Galligan. The affidavit also implicates their brother-in-law, who is the same man who Washington says told him about the crime.
Sims and Washington ultimately went to trial in 1980, almost half a decade after the murder. A nearly all-white jury deliberated for three days after the only Black juror held out. Ultimately, she caved after newspapers reported another juror punching a wall in frustration over the deadlock.
Washington ended up spending roughly three decades incarcerated. In a rare move, the parole board granted his release because of his innocence claim — traditionally, refusing to admit guilt during a hearing can significantly undermine a hearing and prolong time in prison.
Sims, who refused to flip on Washington despite little evidence against him, spent around 27 years in prison before release. “He had an opportunity to lie against me to gain his freedom,” said Washington. “And out of my friendship, I said ‘go home.’ He didn’t do it, he said we didn’t do this, and I’m not gonna do that. And [we’re] still friends today.”
“We’ve been friends since we were nine years old,” said Sims. “Went to mostly all the same schools. But as far as this crime [goes], it’s been devastating on me even though what I try to do is put it behind me.”
The two met with the Amsterdam News last week at the offices of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, one of the law firms representing them. Former Innocence Project mainstay Karen Newirth and former Brooklyn D.A. Conviction Review Chief Charlie Linehan will also represent Sims and Washington through their firm Newirth Linehan, which specializes solely in challenging wrongful convictions.
Centurion Ministries, a nonprofit designated to wrongful convictions, originally reinvestigated the innocence claim and played a key role in providing the parole board materials. The Queens District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), which can petition a judge to exonerate Sims and Washington, also looked at the case. But the prosecution ultimately rejected the review. The two parties now find themselves back on opposite sides of the courtroom after the unsuccessful reinvestigation.
Queens D.A. spokesperson Brendan Brosh stood by the conviction but said the office will review the new motion “and respond in due course.” He pointed to testimony from Ellis, the other teenager implicated alongside Sims and Washington.
“They were convicted at a 1980 trial based on an eyewitness identification of Washington, the testimony of accomplice Charles Ellis, who described Washington and Sims’s participation in the crime, and two other witnesses who recounted admissions made by Washington,” said Brosh. “Both defendants brought multiple state and federal appeals which were all denied, and both defendants have long since been paroled.”
The new filing also includes a sworn statement from Ellis in 2021 recanting his testimony against Sims and Washington and said he took the stand under police coercion, according to court documents. He wrote about how NYPD officers went up to Coxsackie during his incarceration and threatened him and his mother if he refused to cooperate.
Both Sims and Washington are now 67 years old and see the potential exoneration as a new chapter. Washington lived on the straight and narrow after release despite limited employment and housing due to the conviction. He took on jobs ranging from childcare to facilities management and now works in hospitality. Sims found a job after coming home through reentry nonprofit Fortune Society and says the brunt of the stigma fell on Washington.
But both men say the conviction continues to impact their personal lives, particularly with dating. Washington remains intentionally single due to the difficult conversations with potential partners about the murder. Sims recounted similar frustrations with past dates.
“I’ve made a conscious decision to just be single with hopes that they can clear my name,” said Washington. “And after that day, then I can move on.”
