In new Jersey closed the case and dropped the charges against the 2 men who served 24 years in prison for a murder they did not commit.
55-year-old Eric Kelly , and 53-year-old Ralph Lee was released on bail in 2017, but all this time the court has decided to review the case or close it. Attorney Vanessa Potkin, who worked with one of the prisoners through the Innocence project, expressed the hope that this case will encourage the government of new Jersey to reconsider the approach to convictions. «In fact, there was no serious evidence of guilt of these people,» — said the lawyer.
In 1993, Paterson was murdered 22-year-old salon employee blockbuster Tito Merino — med student, who immigrated to the U.S. from Peru.
The detainees, Eric Kelly and Ralph Lee, at first, confessed themselves guilty, but later recanted his words. No evidence against them was not the accusation was based solely on the testimony of witnesses.
In 2014, the examination revealed on the baseball cap found near the body Merino, DNA of a third person. In 1989 this man was already convicted of assault with a knife on the store in Paterson and was released from prison 3 months before the tragedy in the cabin of the video store. Open the case again with the accusations already that person, prosecutors refused to tell.
After the release of Eric Kelly got a job at a pancake house. Ralph Lee is struggling with health problems arising in prison. «But when he heard that the case was closed, it was the first day in a long time, when I saw his smile,» said father Lee.
