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He spent decades in prison. How the botched murder case was uncovered
A judge ruled Ruiz should never have been convicted after prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence in the murder-for-hire case.
- On April 27, a New York judge vacated Harry Ruiz's 1993 murder-for-hire conviction after he spent 25 years in prison maintaining his innocence.
- A reinvestigation sparked by a cold case detective's tip uncovered that prosecutors failed to disclose a key witness's statement contradicting the state's case against Ruiz.
- Judge Robert Mandelbaum labeled the withholding "serious, egregious, persistent, continuing prosecutorial misconduct," granting defense attorney Ron Kuby's request to vacate the conviction.
- Following the exoneration, Ruiz was released, though the trial prosecutor, former assistant district attorney Helen, "declined to voluntarily discuss this case" during the reinvestigation.
- Experts note prosecutors rarely face consequences for misconduct, a pattern tracked by the National Registry of Exonerations, which documents hundreds of wrongful convictions nationwide.
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22 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources22
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center20Last UpdatedBias Distribution91% Center
Bias Distribution
- 91% of the sources are Center
91% Center
C 91%
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