A Gwinnett County man found not guilty of distributing drugs says he spent months in jail because police mistook him for another man.
The two Gwinnett County police officers who made the arrest told Channel 2's Tony Thomas they are adamant Antonio English was the man who sold them less than an ounce of marijuana in an undercover deal.
But English just as adamantly claimed it was mistaken identity. The jury believed English and he's now a free man.
"It's a blessing. Thank God," English told Thomas on Monday.
English paced back and forth after the jury found him not guilty of the charges that could have sent him to prison for 10 years.
English spent 10 months in jail before getting out on bond and then turned down plea deals to clear his name.
"My nerves are wrecked," English said.
Two Gwinnett police officers identified English as the man who sold them marijuana out of a Buford house.
But all along he maintained he was nowhere near the place and the street name police linked to him actually belonged to another known drug dealer.
"I don't think it was intentional, I think it was just a mistake and so when they couldn't make a bigger buy, they just identified a person and moved on," attorney Danielle Britt said.
Thomas asked the district attorney's office for a comment on the case.
Assistant District Attorney Robby King emailed Thomas a statement saying in part, "Obviously the State believed the officers in their identification of Mr. English as the seller and that's why there was a trial."
"Why couldn't the police discover this was mistaken identity? I think they could have if they had done a little more of an investigation," Britt said.
"For something I didn't do, didn't even think about doing, so thank God," English said.
Exactly why the jury ruled not guilty is not fully known. Lawyers did not talk to them after the fact.
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