Darryl Washington, Shakara Robertson, and Marcus Smith were among a group of five men arrested and convicted of aggravated robbery in a 1994 purse-snatching incident near Inwood Village in Dallas. Washington was sentenced
to 99 years in prison. Smith and Robertson were both sentenced to terms of probation. Two juveniles arrested along with Washington, Robertson, and Smith had their cases dismissed when the State learned that there was no identification evidence against the juveniles.
The Conviction Integrity Unit’s investigation revealed the actual perpetrators of the crime were Jeremy DeGray, Marcus McCallahan, Kendrick Bright, Christopher Love, and William Jackson. The perpetrators have admitted their participation in the crime and the investigation by the CIU corroborated that Washington, Robertson, and Smith did not commit the offense. However, due to the fact that the statute of limitations has run on the 1994 offense, in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, the actual perpetrators can no longer be prosecuted for this crime.
“This wrongful conviction case is unique in comparison to the others that we have seen in Dallas County because we have three individuals who were wrongfully convicted of participating in the same criminal offense,” said Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. “There were actually five perpetrators involved in this crime and our Conviction Integrity Unit identified all five of the real perpetrators. Even though our laws prohibit us from prosecuting the actual perpetrators for an aggravated robbery that occurred 18 years ago, it is our duty to clear the names of the three men who served time for a crime they did not commit.”
At the time of his arrest, Marcus Smith, who has no priors, served one year in the county jail because he was unable to post bond. He eventually pled “no contest” and successfully completed five years probation. He is currently free.
Darryl Washington was convicted of aggravated robbery in 1996 and sentenced to 99 years in prison. He had a prior drug case that was pending at the time of the aggravated robbery conviction. Washington pled to 20 years on the drug case is currently in prison on that case.
At the time of the 1994 offense, Shakara Robertson had no priors. He pled guilty and received ten years probation after learning that Washington had received 99 years. Mr. Robertson’s probation was revoked and he was sent to prison for five years. Mr. Robertson is currently serving a sentence on an unrelated offense.
