ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) - Prosecutors in New Jersey have dropped all charges against a man who had been serving a lengthy prison term in a 1994 slaying.
The Union County prosecutor’s office said Monday that a Superior Court judge had ordered 45-year-old Jean Dorval freed after a brief hearing.
Dorval and 46-year-old Duquene Pierre were convicted in the slaying of 19-year-old Jerry Myers during a 1994 robbery in Elizabeth.
But the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in December 2015 that Pierre’s attorney failed to present evidence that the pair were in a car ticketed in South Carolina hours before the homicide.
After key witnesses recanted their identifications, Pierre was acquitted and freed in July 2016. Prosecutors said Monday the same circumstances apply to Dorval, who previously wouldn’t have been eligible for parole until 2034.
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