PHILADELPHIA, PA – Former Philadelphia homicide detective James Pitts last week was sentenced for two felony counts of perjury and three counts of obstructing administration of law, announced the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Common Pleas Judge Anthony Kyriakakis sentenced Pitts to “32 to 64 months of state incarceration,” following the recommendation of prosecutors.
These convictions and sentencing are for Pitts’ violent interrogation of an innocent man, Obina Onyiah, along with Pitts’ lies to a judge and jury, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, said the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Pitts’ actions led to the wrongful conviction of Onyiah, who spent 11 years in prison until the Court of Common Pleas vacated Onyiah’s conviction in 2021 “with support from the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU),” according to the Philadelphia DA’s Office.
Pitts’ conviction and sentencing is “historic,” because it marks the first time in nearly 50 years that “Philadelphia law enforcement was held criminally accountable for perjury after physically coercing a confession from a suspect,” the Philadelphia DA’s office said in a statement.
The Philadelphia DA’s Office explained Onyiah was convicted of a “gunpoint attempted robbery and murder of William Glatz,” as one of the two offenders in Glatz’s store on Oct. 21, 2010. The first perpetrator was killed on the scene, while the escaped second offender was “described by surviving witnesses as “very slight of build and 5’7” or 5’8.”
Despite being 6’3,” Onyiah was identified by a jailhouse informant and then delivered a false confession to Pitts, the Philadelphia DA’s Office stated.
Onyiah petitioned for post-conviction proceedings that resulted in a CIU investigation demonstrating the “falseness of Onyiah’s confession and his actual innocence,” said the DA.
And, photogrammetry/height analysis from experts “determined the perpetrator recorded on video could not have been Onyiah,” said the DA, noting Pitts was arrested on March 23, 2022.
The CIU presented the evidence of Pitts’ crimes in July 2024, stated the Philadelphia DA’s Office, adding Onyiah’s testimony “described (him) being assaulted by Pitts inside the Police Administration Building’s Homicide Unit.”
Onyiah’s testimony was supported by “extensive expert analysis” which proved why “Onyiah, who is 6’3,” could not have been the perpetrator recorded on the video,” the Philly DA Office added.
The jury “returned a unanimous guilty verdict,” the Philadelphia DA’s Office writes. And, at Pitts’ sentencing, CIU prosecutors advocated for a “lengthy prison term” because of the “extreme gravity of Pitts’ crimes that were committed by abusing his position…as a law enforcement officer.”
CIU prosecutors noted that Pitts’ lies were “premeditated and deliberate” in order to cover up prior crimes. CIU prosecutors also noted the psychological trauma suffered by Onyiah.
The Philadelphia DA’s Office also said the CIU played a phone call recording from Onyiah to his mother shortly after being imprisoned, where “Onyiah cried for help from his mother.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said, “As a result of ex-Detective Pitts’ deeply troubling corruption in this case, Mr. Onyiah lost 11 years of his life for no reason. My office will continue to pursue even-handed justice, regardless of whether the perpetrators wear a badge, because no one is above the law.”
CIU Supervisor Michael Garmisa stated that “this is an important day for accountability,” thanking Onyiah for “bravely facing his abuser in court and testifying truthfully.”
CIU Supervisor Garmisa added, “(W)e all suffer when those, in a position of trust, lie under oath with the intent to obstruct. This sentence appropriately addresses the gravity of those harms.”
The Philadelphia DA’s Office noted this is not the only wrongful conviction involving Pitts, explaining, in 2023, India Spellman was exonerated for a crime where Pitts played the role in interrogating two juvenile suspects.
The Conviction Integrity Unit “supported Spellman’s exonerations” while also “arguing she was likely innocent.”
