Los Angeles man wrongfully convicted of murder to be released after 32 years in prison
District attorney's office concedes 'cumulative errors' were made in Andrew Wilson's case.
A man wrongfully convicted of murder will be released from prison after serving more than three decades behind bars.
Andrew Wilson, from Los Angeles, was convicted of the 1984 robbery and stabbing of Christopher Hanson, 21, as he sat in a parked pickup truck with his girlfriend. However, the 62-year-old has always maintained his innocence.
Now, after serving 32 years in prison, prosecutors have conceded Wilson did not get a fair trial.
"This case is like something you would see on TV," Laurie Levenson, of Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent, told the Los Angeles Times.
"It has everything from bad witness identification, not turning over impeachment evidence, having a theory and marching toward it, officers putting a full-court press on witnesses."
At the hearing at LA Superior Court on Wednesday (15 March), Deputy District Attorney Erika Jerez said that "cumulative errors" were made, therefore depriving Wilson of his constitutional right to a fair trial.
Judge Laura Priver ordered Wilson to be released from custody as soon as possible, which is expected to be on 15 or 16 March.
In spite of the victory, Jerez wrote a letter to the judge stating that he "wishes to make it explicitly clear that while we believe the record demonstrates Mr Wilson was denied a fundamentally fair trial, we do not believe Mr Wilson is factually innocent".
The difference of whether Wilson is factually innocent or simply tried incorrectly is significant, as it is the distinction between whether he is entitled to state compensation or not.
The defence says Wilson did not commit the crimes he was convicted for, and a hearing to establish whether he is factually innocent will begin on 3 May.
Paula Mitchell, the lead attorney in Wilson's case, said she has evidence that some information was suppressed and that witnesses were directed towards seeing Wilson as the guilty man.
Wilson plans to see his 96-year-old mother, Margie Davis, in her St Louis home following his release.
"I knew that he was innocent all along," she told the Los Angeles Times. "It's no news to me. He is an honest person – I knew he wouldn't lie."
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