CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has ordered a judge to consider new evidence in the case of a New York man who has spent 16 years in an Ohio prison after being convicted of aggravated murder.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Monday that Alfred Cleveland of Queens, N.Y., has "a credible claim of actual innocence," and that jurors surely wouldn't have convicted him had they had all the facts.
Cleveland was convicted of killing 22-year-old Marsha Blakely in Lorain, Ohio, based almost entirely on testimony from an admitted crack addict who got a reward for testifying and owed $5,000 to Cleveland.
That witness has since recanted his testimony, saying he was off drugs and wanted to get right with God.
