Nashville native Cyrus Wilson, serving life sentence, granted parole after 25 years in prison

A Nashville native sentenced to life in prison 25 years ago on a 1994 murder conviction was granted parole by the Tennessee Board of Parole on Tuesday.

Cyrus Wilson, 45, had been serving a life sentence for a 1992 Edgehill murder.

Wilson, who was 19 at the time of the killing, was convicted in the brutal shotgun murder of Christopher Luckett, found shot in the face under a chain-link fence in East Nashville.

Wilson has maintained his innocence over the past two decades, but his efforts to be freed had previously been unsuccessful. 

The state's case rested mostly on the testimony of a handful of juvenile witnesses, who claimed Wilson took the shotgun and killed Luckett as revenge for stealing his car.

Two men who helped put Wilson in prison later said they lied at the time because of pressure from police.

In mid May 2014, Wilson's wife and mother listened as Wilson's attorney, Patrick McNally, laid out the problems with his 1994 trial before the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. First there was a note in a prosecutor's file that was never turned over to defense attorneys casting doubt on all of the juvenile witnesses in the case.

According to information from the Tennessee Board of Parole, Wilson had been eligible for parole since May.

A parole hearing was held on Oct. 16 and state records show he was granted parole Tuesday.

Timeline of events:

Sept. 15, 1992: Christopher Luckett is found shot dead under a chainlink fence in East Nashville.

Feb. 2, 1993: Cyrus Deville Wilson is indicted in Luckett's death.

Feb. 1, 1994: Wilson is found guilty of first-degree murder, largely on the eyewitness testimony of juvenile witnesses. Wilson is sentenced to life in prison.

Aug. 26, 2008: Wilson obtains a previously undiscovered, hand-written, 1992 note from prosecutors about witnesses that says, "good case but for most of Ws are juveniles who have already lied repeatedly."

April 20, 2012: The Tennessee Supreme Court rules the note isn't admissible in court or enough to force a new trial.

Nov. 22, 2013: Rodriguez Lee and Rashime Williams, then 16 and 17, recant their 1994 testimony, saying they lied because they were worried police would arrest them for Luckett's murder if they didn't play along. 

May 3, 2019: Wilson is eligible for parole. 

Oct. 16, 2019: Wilson has a parole hearing.

Oct. 23, 2019: Wilson is granted parole. 

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.