A New York man has been released after serving nearly two decades in prison for a robbery he did not commit.
In 2005, Kenneth Windley, 61, purchased a stove for his mother using a stolen money order, which he was unaware of. He was found guilty of second-degree robbery and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
A Brooklyn judge overturned his conviction after prosecutors reviewed his claims of innocence and determined that he was not involved in the crime.
“It has taken many years, but today we are able to validate his account, release him from prison and exonerate his name,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.
Windley, 61, said outside the courthouse, according to The Associated Press: “It cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that’s all that matters.”
Windley’s conviction was connected to a robbery on April 1, 2005, in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. Two men followed a 70-year-old man into his apartment building and robbed him in the elevator, stealing $485 in cash and two blank, unsigned money orders, one for $542, the other for $9, according to a review of the case that the prosecutor’s office released Monday.