US Man Jailed for 29 Years for Uncommitted Murder is Ordered Free

Local Editor

A US man convicted of murder was ordered free on Wednesday after he spent 29 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.

Coerced by police into a murder confession as a teenager, David McCallum was finally released after serving 29 years behind bars.

Brooklyn's district attorney, Ken Thompson, who has been reviewing about 130 old cases, requested Judge Matthew D'Emic to overturn the conviction of McCallum and William Stuckey, as the admissions "were false in large part because these 16-year-olds were fed false facts." Thompson reportedly said that "not a single piece of evidence" linked the two men to the crime.

Although McCallum lived to see himself cleared, Stuckey died in prison in 2001.

Back in October 1985, the two 16-year-old, African-American teenagers - McCallum and Stuckey - were arrested after Nathan Blenner was found shot dead in a Brooklyn park. Witnesses in Queens told police they had seen two men push Blenner into his Buick Regal and drive away.

Despite not matching the descriptions of the suspects, McCallum and Stuckey were arrested by police. Once in custody, the two both gave confessions naming each other as the gunman, but soon afterwards began asserting their innocence. The teenagers were ultimately convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team