This July 2015 inmate photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Bobby Johnson, of New Haven, Conn., sentenced to prison in 2006 for the killing of Herbert Fields. Johnson is expected to be freed Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, because prosecutors are now questioning the evidence in the case. (Connecticut Department of Correction via AP) (The Associated Press)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A Connecticut man who spent nine years in prison for a 2006 killing he says he didn't commit has been freed after a state judge vacated his murder conviction.
Twenty-five-year-old Bobby Johnson was greeted and hugged by family and friends Friday outside New Haven Superior Court. His lawyer, Kenneth Rosenthal, and the Connecticut Innocence Project worked to free him for years.
Judge Patrick Clifford granted prosecutors' motion to set aside Johnson's conviction. Prosecutors say a review of the case undermined confidence that Johnson was guilty.
Johnson was sentenced to 38 years in prison for killing 70-year-old Herbert Fields in a robbery in New Haven. Rosenthal says that evidence pointed to other suspects and that Johnson was coerced into confessing. Johnson has a low IQ and was 16 at the time.
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