Laurence Adams, who was sen­tenced to death in Massachusetts in 1974 short­ly before the state final­ly aban­doned cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, was released on May 20 after spend­ing three decades of his life in prison. In April 2004, a judge over­turned Adams’ con­vic­tion when new evi­dence, includ­ing con­flict­ing state­ments from the state’s star wit­ness and a state­ment from a wit­ness who said two oth­er peo­ple com­mit­ted the mur­der, cast doubt on his guilt. Superior Court Judge Robert A. Mulligan said that he vacat­ed the con­vic­tion to ​“avoid a mis­car­riage of jus­tice.” Suffolk County pros­e­cu­tors must decide by May 24 whether to appeal Mulligan’s deci­sion or whether they will retry Adams. ​“You can’t be bit­ter because you can’t stop the clock,” Adams said. ​“I did what I had to do in the cir­cum­stances in which I was placed. I did every­thing pos­i­tive, and I hoped for this day.” (Associated Press, May 20, 2004) See Innocence.
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