In 1990, two burglars burst through the door of an apartment in Coral Gables, near Coconut Grove. One was masked; the other was not. Francis McKinnon walked out of his bedroom armed with a gun.
McKinnon’s stepdaughter Dorthy Walton saw a gunman shot and killed him. Anonymous tipsters identified the gunman as Thomas “Jay” James and with Walton’s identification, he was convicted of McKinnon’s murder and sentenced to life in prison at 23.
“It’s like living a nightmare, and for the last 30-some years I’ve been trying to wake up from it,” James, 55, said.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced prosecutors’ review of the evidence showed James was not the man who killed McKinnon on Jan. 17, 1990.
“We are going to undo what is the wrongful conviction of an innocent man. Today, we are undoing an injustice, which was an unintentional wrong. We are going to ask the court, our court of law, to give Mr. James the freedom he deserves — and his mom is going to be standing right by him,” Fernandez Rundle said before walking from her office to the courthouse.
Fernandez Rundle walked with James and his family to watch prosecutors file a motion to request post-conviction relief, vacate his judgment and his sentence, and set him free. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel M de la O granted the motion and corrections freed James.
“I am so grateful that Jay gets to walk out of here and live his life,” Attorney Natlie G. Figgers, who represented James, said adding she was grateful for the work of Assistant State Attorney Christine Zahralban, who she described as “an amazing woman.”
Fernandez Rundle also credited her office’s Justice Project. It was set up in 2003 for a prosecution-based review of cases. The team reopened James’s case in 2021. Fernandez Rundle said her team reviewed over 10,000 pages of documents, resubmitted fingerprints for reanalysis, and took the sworn statements of witnesses.
Walton, the star witness who accused James of murder, recanted her testimony. Fernandez Rundles said a few weeks ago Walton repeated that her identification was a mistake.
“There was really no other evidence of his guilt. In fact, there was no physical evidence that we could find tying anyone to the crime,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Prosecutors found it was not a case of mistaken identity.
“This theory was never really true because the second Tommy James was already in custody the date the crime occurred,” Fernandez Rundle said.
The second Thomas “Tommy” James told Justice Project investigators that he and his cousin Vincent “Dog” Williams had been planning the burglary, but when he was arrested he couldn’t go through with it. Williams allegedly told him he and another man identified as Derrick Evans did, according to Fernandez Rundle.
“This case has gone through numerous, by the way, appellate reviews by the circuit courts and by our appellate courts and I believe there have been something like 10 post-conviction reviews in all,” Fernandez Rundle said. “The Innocence Project had twice reviewed this case over the last 20 years and there was a private detective who also reviewed this case. None were successful.”
Figgers said James’s case embodies why it’s important to report information about crimes.
“As a community, we have a duty to speak up when we see an injustice. A lot of times we are afraid to speak up because we think of the consequences,” Figgers said. “Don’t think of that when you know that someone out there is going to suffer if you do not speak up. Do the right thing! Protect those who need protection.”
Crime specialist’s report
Watch Fernandez Rundle’s announcement
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