ALC client returns home after negotiated resolution with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2025

CONTACT:
Connease Warren, Abolitionist Law Center, 713-304-8990, connease@alcenter.org

Philadelphia, PA ‒ On Thursday, February 27, 2025, Devin Rouse was released from State Correctional Institution (SCI) Phoenix after more than 22 years of incarceration for a murder he did not commit. Mr. Rouse’s appeal was resolved the previous day in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by a judicial order approving a negotiated resolution with the District Attorney’s Office that permitted Mr. Rouse’s immediate release.

Mr. Rouse and his co-defendant, Naem Waller, were tried three times for the 2002 murder of Brian Birkelback. Due to the weakness of the prosecution’s case, the first two times ended in a hung jury, which allowed for re-trials. Convicted on the third attempt in 2004, Mr. Rouse relentlessly challenged his conviction in the courts for the next 20 years. Sometimes acting without the assistance of legal counsel, and other times having to expend considerable efforts to educate his lawyers and raise critical claims and arguments, Mr. Rouse developed a remarkable expertise in criminal law. Using this hard-won knowledge, Mr. Rouse was able to preserve key claims that implicated alternate suspects in the offense, and then the Abolitionist Law Center and Kairys Rudovsky Feinberg Messing & Lin began representing Mr. Rouse.

Central to his current appeal was the testimony of a witness who came forward in 2013 to reveal the true identities of those who committed the murder that Mr. Rouse and Mr. Waller were convicted of. In 2022, that witness testified in Mr. Waller’s case, eventually resulting in his freedom. 

Additional evidence of his innocence was uncovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s files that were produced in the course of the appeal. This evidence included a tip provided to police that pointed to alternate suspects, likely the same ones identified in the 2013 statement.  It also included evidence about the mental health diagnoses of a key prosecution witness, which cast doubt on the reliability of his prior testimony.

Though Mr. Rouse maintains his innocence, a negotiated resolution allows for him to be home with his family as quickly as possible. The District Attorney’s Office (DAO) determined they no longer had confidence in the fairness of his trial. In the interests of justice, the DAO agreed to a negotiated resolution, which was approved by Judge Scott DiClaudio, that allowed for Mr. Rouse’s immediate release from prison on time served.

“22 plus years a slave, wrongfully convicted, and now finally free,” said Devin Rouse upon his release from prison. “However, my work is not done. God willing, there are more people that I have to help get out of prison.”