Duo exonerated in brutal 1994 NYC murder — after they wrongly served decades in prison

Better late than never.

Two wrongly accused men were exonerated Thursday in a brutal 1994 murder in Harlem – after they both served decades behind bars.

Charles Collins, 49, and Brian Boles, 48, embraced their attorneys when a Manhattan judge vacated their convictions.

“I’m really happy,” Boles said outside the courtroom.

The emotional scene came after The Innocence Project and Manhattan district attorney’s investigators found DNA evidence that cast doubt on whether Boles and Collins murdered 85-year-old James Reid.

Reid was found dead in his Harlem apartment, beaten and strangled.

Boles and Collins, who were both 17 at the time, fell under suspicion after they robbed a friend roughly a week later.

Cops first questioned Boles about the robbery, but then quizzed him over Reid’s murder — and wrongly said Collins implicated him in the ghastly crime.

Boles eventually confessed, which in turn prompted Collins to do the same.

The pressures of interrogation — including many outright lies — faced by the two young men needed to be understood, said Jane Pucher, an attorney who represented Boles for The Innocence Project.

“When you’re being lied to, when you’re 17 years old, interrogated for two days straight, threatened without sleep, and then given a narrative to repeat back and told, ‘You’re not gonna go home unless you do this,’ there’s every pressure in the world for people to confess,” she said.

“There have been countless false confession cases nationally and in New York itself, especially when you have vulnerable defendants like Mr. Boles and Mr. Collins.” 

Boles received a 25 years-to-life sentence after he was convicted at trial on murder charges. Collins afterward pleaded guilty and received a 20 years-to-life sentence.

After serving nearly 30 years, Boles was paroled in 2024. Collins served almost 22 years before his own parole in 2017.

Their road to exoneration came after Innocence Project and DA investigators tested DNA found on Reid’s fingernails.

The test detected DNA that didn’t belong to Boles and Collins — and officials found that other evidence that potentially would have cleared them was never presented.

The pair admitted that they committed the unrelated robbery.

“They have served their full sentences and have since returned to the community and their loved ones,” said Assistant District Attorney Terry Rosenblatt. “Therefore, in the interest of justice, we ask that those counts be dismissed. And we also ask for dismissal for the remaining counts related to the homicide in the interest of justice.”

Judge Ruth Pickholz granted the dismissal, prompting applause in the courtroom

“We cannot undo the past, but I hope both Mr. Collins and Mr. Bowles can find meaning and some comfort in what occurred today,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.