US News
Former death row inmate freed, charges dropped
May 3, 2008, 5:51 GMT
Washington - A former death row inmate was freed Friday after prosecutors dropped all charges against him in a killing in which his conviction was overturned two years ago.
Levon Jones was convicted of robbing and shooting to death an alcohol bootlegger in 1987 in North Carolina.
After his conviction in 1993, largely on the testimony of his former girlfriend, Jones spent 13 years on death row.
Appeals lawyers argued that his original defence at trial was incompetent, partly for failing to challenge the weak credibility of the girlfriend. In 2006, a federal judge agreed and threw out the original conviction, but Jones remained in jail awaiting retrial.
A few weeks ago, the girlfriend recanted her testimony, saying that she had mostly lied in the trial. On Friday, North Carolina prosecutors dropped the charges against Jones, saying that they no longer had enough evidence to pursue a retrial.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
ithink he should fry
he killed my brother
page: 1
WardMay 3rd, 2008 - 15:13:28
No one should ever be convicted of anything on someone else's say so without evidence to back it up, and if the investigators work like they should, it will be found. Anyone can say anything and they damn well will do it. That's a given.
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