A man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for a $550 robbery has been exonerated and released on Monday, after prosecutors acknowledged that he did not commit the crime, Associated Press reports.
“It cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that’s all that matters. So I’m good with that,” Kenneth Windley, 61, said as he left a Brooklyn courthouse, free for the first time since 2007.
Prosecutors said new evidence, including confessions from two other men convicted of similar robberies, supported Windley’s long-standing claim of innocence.
“This case is really a cautionary tale of how things can seem one way but, without careful analysis, not be what it purports to be,” Eric Gonzalez, a Democrat, said after shaking Windley’s hand outside the courthouse.
“Had we known what the evidence was, this case should have never happened,” he added, noting that he had privately apologised to Windley.
Windley was arrested in 2005 after buying a stove for his mother using a money order later found to be stolen, though he denied involvement in the robbery.
The money order had been taken from 70-year-old Gerald Ross by two men who followed him home from a bank and post office.
A review released by the prosecutor’s office stated that the two men had robbed Ross in his apartment building, taking $485 in cash and two blank money orders.
Windley testified that he had simply purchased a $542.77 money order from acquaintances who assured him it was valid, and that he had no prior experience with money orders and was unaware it was stolen.
“He was duped,” one of Windley’s lawyers, David Shanies, told the court Monday.
Ross had identified Windley from a photo array and later a live lineup, both conducted six weeks or more after the robbery.
At trial, Windley explained to jurors how he had been approached by his acquaintances, but the jury convicted him in 2007 of robbery. Due to prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to 20 years to life, and his appeals failed.
Later, with the help of friends and private investigators, Windley identified the men who had sold him the money order, and both admitted in statements to the D.A.’s office that they had committed the robbery and that Windley was not involved. The D.A.’s office described their admissions as “compelling.”
Both men are serving prison sentences for other robbery convictions. Prosecutors concluded that if the jury had known this information, it would likely have created reasonable doubt regarding Windley’s guilt.
No new charges have been filed, as the statute of limitations has expired and Ross has since passed away.
Heading off to celebrate with his family, Windley said he bears no bitterness over the ordeal. “I’m just going to move on from there,” he said