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| U.K. Court Tosses American's Murder Rap |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/09/2003 |
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A New York man was freed from prison Monday after a British court overturned his murder conviction and upheld the acquittal of another American in the death of a Connecticut woman. William Labrador hugged his mother as he left prison shortly before 6 p.m., hours after the court ruled that he was wrongly convicted in the 2000 death of Lois McMillen, a 34-year-old artist. 'It's time to go live my life again, which thank God was not taken from me,' said Labrador, 39, of Southampton, N.Y. 'It's like a miracle,' Barbara Labrador said. 'Finally justice. Finally. Finally!' The judges also ruled that Alexander Benedetto, a 37-year-old publisher from New York, had been properly acquitted of murder. They set aside an order by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal that Benedetto should be tried again on the charge. Benedetto and Labrador were among four Americans originally charged in the slaying of McMillen, who was vacationing on the island of Tortola when she drowned in January 2000. Labrador was convicted of murder largely on the testimony of Jeffrey Plante, a 61-year-old Texan who said Labrador confessed to the killing while the two men shared a jail cell on Tortola. Five British Privvy Council judges ruled that Plante's evidence was too unreliable to have convicted Labrador of the killing, for which he was sentenced to life. Labrador's lawyers argued that Plante, who has a long history of fraud and theft offenses, was unreliable. Benedetto was acquitted along with Michael Spicer, a 39-year-old law student from Virginia, and Evan George, 25, of Washington, D.C., in May 2001 after the trial judge ruled there was not enough evidence against them to proceed. 'This ruling reaffirms my faith in the judicial process,' Benedetto said in a telephone interview Monday. 'If the law protects the guilty, then certainly it must come to the rescue of the innocent. I hope they reopen the case so justice comes for poor Lois as well.' The Privy Council has long been the court of last resort for several former British Caribbean islands. |
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