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Written by: E. George
Published September 19, 2024 @ 4:30 PM ET
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – The city of Atlanta is set to pay a wrongfully accused man who spent over a year in jail $1.5 million in a recent settlement. Keith Sylvester was charged with strangling his mother and stepfather, Deborah, 65, and Harry Hubbard, 67, to death to collect insurance money despite not even being a beneficiary, according to his attorney.
Sylvester served 14+ months after Atlanta Police Detective James Barnett reportedly withheld crucial evidence that proved he was innocent. Barnett omitted video and cellphone evidence, placing Sylvester nowhere near the home at the time of the crime, but never received any disciplinary action; officials revealed that perjury would be the correlating charge.
The ruling from the appellate court reversing Sylvester’s conviction expressed, “The argument goes, a jury could find that Detective Barnett either intentionally lied to the state judge or was so reckless with the truth that he misled the state judge into thinking there was probable cause.”
The ruling stated, “The majority of Detective Barnett’s investigatory work occurred in the first few weeks after the fire. Over the next four months, the flow of information slowed. Eventually, Detective Barnett determined that he had gathered as much evidence as he possibly could and decided to seek an arrest warrant charging his sole suspect, Keith Sylvester.”
After their deaths, Sylvester worked tirelessly with detectives for nearly six months trying to identify the culprit, so he was stunned when they accused and arrested him. He explained, “When [the detective] presented me with a citation and told me that I was under arrest for the murder of my parents, I thought it was a trick for him to try to get more information.”
Sylvester continued, “I was thinking that this was a mistake. They were going to realize something, and I was going to be out of there pretty soon. I was thinking I was going to get out within a couple of days.” He faced charges of arson, insurance fraud, and murder.
On the day of the crimes, June 2, 2018, Sylvester traveled to his mother and stepfather’s house for a visit, like any other routine day, and vacated before 9:00 PM. According to court documents, ample evidence proving his innocence included his dashboard camera footage, cellular phone carrier data, and multiple gambling establishments’ security video.
Investigators also confirmed that Harry Hubbard called his niece, Nyaira Walton, at 9:30 PM, who verified that Hubbard presented no indications of danger or distress during the call.
The Atlanta Fire Department received a report about the fire at 3:56 AM. A spokesperson revealed that the fire was ignited intentionally just before the report came in, rendering Sylvester’s guilt impossible.
Autopsies were performed, and soot and ash were discovered in the Hubbards’ tracheas, determining that they were alive and breathing after the fire was started.
Cellular phone records identified the cell phone of another man, Cornelius Muckle, inside the home right before they were murdered and their house set ablaze. Additionally, a local pawn shop reported that Muckle attempted to sell several items stolen from the couple two days after they were killed.
During his incarceration, Sylvester penned countless letters to civil rights groups, judges, and prosecutors advocating his innocence and hoping for a chance for his case to be reviewed. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office initiated an investigation that led them to Muckle.
Sylvester’s charges were dropped in March 2020 when evidence secured Muckle’s guilt, who now faces murder charges. Sylvester had filed a lawsuit against Detective Barnett in 2019, which was dismissed in 2022; however, a federal appeals court revived the suit in March.
Prosecutors passed the blame to Google, claiming that the company made them wait nine months for a response to a warrant request. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers revealed that the geofence search warrant would have permitted authorities to “cast a wide net by collecting information about all devices that were within a specified area.”
The warrant allegedly allowed them to identify Muckle’s cell phone inside the Hubbards’ home and the stolen items at the pawn shop.
District Attorney Paul Howard stated, “The result of this investigation shows that an assailant, who was unnamed in the original police investigation, was, in fact, in the house of Deborah and Harry Hubbard 20 minutes before a 911 call was placed regarding the fire that caused their deaths.”
Sylvester said, “I feel a lot better now. I know that this could have [gone] another way, and that’s even scary still thinking about that. I’m just very happy that the truth came out.”
He reflected, “I wouldn’t want anybody that’s innocent to go through what I went through. I’m fully aware, and I fully believe now that there are innocent people in jail and prison.”