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Claim: Man sentenced to death is innocent

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A Canadian court may reverse a death sentence in the likely wrongful conviction of a man jailed for almost three decades and dying of cancer, officials said.

New Brunswick officials conceded Friday that Erin Walsh, 59, was likely wrongfully found guilty of the 1975 killing of Melvin "Chi Chi" Peters, The Toronto Globe and Mail reported.

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"Now, with Erin dying and the case back before the court, it still feels like we are staggering to the finish line and desperately hoping we get there before he drops," defense attorney Phil Campbell said.

It is reported that if Walsh, who has been in prison for almost 28 years, is completely absolved, he may hold the record for known length of imprisonment after being wrongfully convicted.

"Unfortunately, time isn't on my side, and so it looks like it will end in the Court of Appeal," Walsh said, "Finally, I will die with the law treating me as an innocent man."

New Brunswick Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau set a March 14 hearing to establish whether Walsh should be fully exonerated before cancer kills him, the report said.

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