James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – A man convicted of murder then exonerated after nearly 19 years in prison is suing the City of Philadelphia, alleging prosecutors threatened and bribed witnesses to close the case of a murdered police officer.
Mumin Slaughter was found guilty of the 2005 murder of Philadelphia cop Terrence Flomo, though Slaughter says in a Dec. 15 federal lawsuit he was asleep at his sister’s house at the time. When no physical evidence connected him to the crime, the Philadelphia Police Department turned to two drug-addicted prostitutes to implicate him and co-defendant William Johnson, Slaughter says.
“The defendant detectives’ tactics included threatening, bribing and intimidating (Brenda) Bowens and (Nora) Williams and pressuring them to implicate Slaughter and Johnson according to a false narrative the defendant detectives fed to the two women, who made clear to the defendant detectives that they did not know who shot Flomo,” the lawsuit says.
The District Attorney’s Office then hid evidence that would have helped Slaughter defend himself, the suit says, leading to a 2007 conviction of third-degree murder that carried a 25–50-year prison sentence.
Flomo was killed in his car at 2 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2005, in a North Philadelphia neighborhood known for sex workers and illegal drugs. Bowens and Williams initially provided no information related to the shooting.
Detectives then obtained photographs of Black men with open warrants and/or cases to detain and question, the suit says. Slaughter and Johnson, who had ties to the neighborhood, were two of them.
Another man denied knowing whom the shooter was but was told by detectives it was Slaughter and Johnson, the suit says. He was pressured to sign a prepared false statement, it adds.
More than a week after the shooting, a woman contacted police to say she saw two men who weren’t Slaughter and Johnson shoot Flomo, but detectives continued their case against Slaughter and Johnson.
Ultimately, Bowens and Williams were pressured to say they saw Slaughter and Johnson shoot Flomo under threat of retaliation, the suit says. Before trial, Bowens sent a letter to then-DA Lynne Abraham to declare her statement was coerced.
It was not disclosed to Slaughter’s legal team. Neither was the fact that Williams had been hospitalized for hallucinations. Detectives pressured Slaughter to implicate Johnson as the shooter, the suit says.
By 2020, Bowens had ditched drugs and prostitution and fully recanted her trial testimony. This led to Slaughter’s legal battle to overturn his conviction, and in May 2024, the DA’s office conceded violations of his civil rights and agreed he was owed a new trial.
Slaughter was released five weeks later. He is represented by Christina Matthias and other lawyers at Wiseman Schwartz Cioschi & Trama.
