‘System Has Failed Our Society’: Brooklyn Man Freed from Prison After 16 Years as Surveillance Video Withheld at Trial Shows He Was Not the Killer While the Real Murderers Roamed Free

A Brooklyn man who spent 16 years in prison for a 2008 fatal shooting was freed after surveillance video, previously withheld during his trial, showed two other suspects near the crime scene, prompting the Brooklyn district attorney to overturn his conviction. Arvel Marshall, now 52, maintained his innocence despite his conviction in the 2008 shooting death of 22-year-old Moustapha Oumaria of Brooklyn. However, crucial surveillance footage that could have exonerated Marshall was never presented at his trial, and it took another 15 years for this evidence to resurface and confirm that Marshall was not the shooter. Arvel Marshall was freed this month after spending 16 years in prison for a homicide he did not commit. (Photo: YouTube screenshot/Eyewitness News ABC7NY) The crucial video, recorded from a nearby building, showed two men — neither of whom was Marshall — walking down a Crown Heights street toward where Oumaria was sitting outside his home with three friends before the shooting commenced. The video shows one of the two men, whose clothing matched a witness’ description, reaching toward an object by his right hip. Shortly after, the footage captures the same men fleeing in the opposite direction just moments after Oumaria fell dead....