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| New York Man Freed After Decade in Prison for Murder |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/12/2002 |
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A man who spent more than a decade in prison for a 1988 murder was freed Tuesday after his brother confessed to the killing. Justice James Starkey threw out the murder conviction of Lamont Branch, who then pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge. The judge sentenced Branch to time served as part of a plea bargain. Prosecutors said they have not decided whether to bring charges against Branch's brother. Branch, 38, had harsh words for the legal system as he left the courthouse with his arm around his 13-year old son. ''It's a crime what they did, and they're getting away with it. ... But that's the system,'' he said. In 1990, a jury found Branch guilty of fatally shooting Danny Josephs in a drug-infested Brooklyn housing project. He was sentenced to life in prison. Branch had insisted that his brother, Lorenzo, was the killer. In March, Lorenzo Branch wept as he testified that he accidentally shot Josephs during a hand-to-hand struggle. He said there were no witnesses. ''I can't live with a lie,'' he told the judge. ''It's killing me.'' The hearing was the first time Lorenzo Branch confessed under oath. He had confessed to his brother and made a videotaped statement for his brother's attorney, but he invoked his right against self-incrimination at a 1997 hearing. The delays angered Lamont Branch. ''He's a murderer,'' he said of his brother in a New York Times interview in February. ''And a coward at that. I would never do something like that, let your brother go to jail for you.'' After Lorenzo Branch confessed in the court, two crack addicts who had testified for the prosecution recanted their testimony, saying they were never at the murder scene. They claimed they made up a story because they knew police were paying for information. |
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