PHILADELPHIA—Three long-retired Philadelphia detectives went on trial Tuesday in a perjury case that examines whether police should be held responsible for alleged misconduct in exoneration cases.
It’s a highly unusual case, given that the 75- to 80-year-old former detectives face prison time if convicted. They had agreed to come out of retirement to testify at a 2016 retrial over an elderly woman’s murder in 1991. That restarted the five-year clock to file perjury charges.
“They didn’t have to come back. They came back for Louise Talley,” defense lawyer Brian McMonagle told the jury Tuesday, referring to the 77-year-old victim….