After more than two decades in prison, a judge released a man who was imprisoned for the 1989 murder of a drug dealer in Brighton Beach, declaring that his trial was a sham. William Lopez, 54, was imprisoned 23 years for blowing away a drug dealer in a Brooklyn crack house, but he's always maintained his innocence. Yesterday a federal judge finally agreed, saying, "The prosecution's evidence was flimsy to begin with and has since been reduced to rubble by facts arising after the trial." The Times reports:
The case began in 1989, Mr. Hynes’s first year in office, when two men burst into a drug den in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and one of them shot a dealer named Elvirn Surria with a double-barreled shotgun. No murder weapon or forensic evidence was found at the scene, so the prosecution relied on two witnesses who had been there.
One was a drug courier at the house who gave a physical description of the assailant that did not resemble Mr. Lopez. The other was an unemployed addict who had just finished a crack binge when the murder happened. She secretly made an agreement with the prosecution to testify in exchange for leniency in her own drug case.
Sir, you are free to go," Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Guy Mangano finally said to Lopez, who was released without bail. He walked out of court yesterday wearing an orange jumpsuit, his only clothes, and embraced his wife, whom he met through a friend while he was incarcerated. "It feels great to be back on earth and I'm looking forward to restarting my life as best I can," Lopez told reporters. After his lawyer hugged him and gave him a MetroCard, he said, "I've never seen one of these before, only on television, but I'll learn how to use it."
Before transferring Lopez to Brooklyn Supreme Court for his release, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis said Lopez deserves a new trial and an apology from the state judge in the original case, NY1 reports. But Lopez's legal nightmare isn't over yet—Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, whose first year on the job coincided with Lopez's conviction, intends to appeal the judge's decision and retry the case if necessary. Lopez isn't surprised: "They've been insistent from day one with no evidence, and they still, to this moment continue to persist."
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, three men were released from prison after serving 18 years for the murder of a livery cab driver and a FedEx executive, a crime they still maintain they never committed. Last night, the convictions were vacated.
