NY: Man walks free after wrongful conviction 23 years ago

A man was released from prison on Thursday after he was wrongfully convicted of killing a Brooklyn rabbi more than 20 years ago.

David Ranta, 58, was finally freed after a year-long investigation determined that the case against him was flawed.

Ranta was convicted in 1991 of shooting Chaskel Werzberger, a Hasidic rabbi, and stealing his car after he unsuccessfully tried to rob a diamond courier in February 1990.

“The evidence no longer establishes the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Assistant District Attorney John O’Mara, the chief of the conviction integrity unit.

The investigation by the conviction integrity unit of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office found that a key witness, a teenager who said he saw Ranta near the murder site, had not told the truth.

The witness said he did not recognize Ranta but selected him from a lineup after a detective told him to “pick the guy with the big nose.”

Two other witnesses admitted that they made up a story for a favorable plea deal.

Ranta was originally sentenced to 37 years in prison and had lost his previous appeals.

Original report here




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