(AP) - A judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against a man who had spent a decade in prison for murder until his conviction was overturned.
Prosecutors told the judge they wouldn't retry the case against Mario Rocha because they couldn't locate crucial eyewitnesses.
"I'm like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon," said Rocha, who was surrounded by family and friends who moments earlier had erupted into applause in court. "It's a big sense of relief."
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(AP) — Los Angeles police acknowledge they've arrested innocent people because of faulty fingerprint analysis.
An internal police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times details two cases in which charges were dropped after problems with the fingerprint analysis were discovered. Police say they do not know how many other people may have been falsely accused because of the problems.
Rhonda Sims-Lewis, chief of the Police Department's technical bureau, says changes have since been made to procedures in the department's Latent Print Unit.
The internal report blames shoddy work and poor oversight for the mistakes.
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