Four men who had been convicted of murder in two different, unrelated cases, left prison on Wednesday after their convictions were vacated, having spent a total of 74 years behind bars between them. In one case, three men who have spent 17 years inside had been cleared of a 1995 Bronx murder after the key witness recanted her testimony, but remained locked up on a second killing that took place three days later. A judge finally decided the two crimes were too closely related to hold them on the second after they were cleared on the first. The other person to go free was William Lopez, whose Brooklyn murder conviction was overturned last week after he spent 23 years in prison. What a good day for them after many, many bad ones.
