Death Row Stories

The Hit That Wasn't

When Tyreese Gamon is shot dead in broad daylight on a street corner, he becomes one of hundreds of murder victims in Philadelphia that year. Tyreese had a target on his back: he was slated to testify in a murder trial. Police follow the evidence to a suspected hitman named Donte Thomas. Despite his checkered past, Donte insists he’s no murderer — yet prosecutors sway a jury to sentence him to death. Years later, Donte’s appeals defender pokes holes in his original trial, including the phone allegedly used to orchestrate the hit and the failure of Donte’s original attorney to present crucial evidence.