Hundreds of documents released supporting innocence of British man locked up for life for murder of business partner and his son - as he claims he's been set up to cover the crimes of a drug cartel

Attorneys for a British businessman who's spent 27 years incarcerated in Florida for a double murder he claims he's innocent of have released details for 53 witnesses and 498 documents they plan to use to convince a judge to order a retrial.

Krishna Maharaj, 75, was sentenced to death in 1987 for the murders of business partner Derrick Moo Young and Young's son Duane in Miami's Dupont Plaza hotel in October 1986.

He was resentenced to life in prison in 2002 and remains in a south Florida prison.

Next Wednesday, his case will receive a full evidentiary hearing from the 11th judicial circuit court of Florida, what attorneys call his best chance in nearly three decades to prove that he was wrongfully convicted.

The Guardian reports the new evidence underlines a huge case for proving Maharaj's innocence.

That includes a book on the case, The Injustice System: A Murder in Miami and a Trial Gone Wrong, written by Clive Stafford Smith of legal support group Repreive.

'Kris Maharaj is so patently innocent that it is unimaginable to me that the state of Florida does not let him go,' Smith said. 'It is a very sad day when the government desperately wants to keep the wrong person in prison, such that they will not even investigate who the real killers are.'

Maharaj claims he was framed for the crime to pull suspicion from Colombian drug cartels.

His attorneys plan to present evidence that the victims were laundering millions for the Medillin drug cartel and that Maharaj was at least 30 miles away from the scene of the crime when the murders took place with at least six people able to account for his whereabouts.

The defense has also found witnesses to support allegations of perjury in some of the key testimony presented by the state during Maharaj's trial.

The witness list also includes investigators and attorneys involved in the case, fingerprints experts, and former Miami police officers.

Also in evidence will be proof of drug dealing and money laundering done by the Youngs, attorneys said.

Judge William Thomas, who ordered the evidentiary hearing, said he would grant a new trial if evidence could be presented of 'such nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial.'

The state's lawyers have argued that most of the defense's new material is hearsay and therefor inadmissible but Thomas said he would decide admissibility during the hearing.

Original report here

　

　

　

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