PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court ordered the release of a Philadelphia man whose questionable murder conviction sent him to prison for more than four decades.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled Thursday Louis Mickens-Thomas, 82, can be released from Graterford prison once his attorneys show they can find suitable housing for their client.
"We've already found that," James McCloskey, who heads Centurion Ministries, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mickens-Thomas, a shoemaker, was convicted at age 36 of the 1964 murder of 12-year-old Edith Connor based on the work of Agnes Mallatratt, a crime-lab employee who turned out to be a high school dropout who repeatedly invented her scientific credentials.
Gov. Robert Casey commuted Mickens-Thomas' sentence in 1995, but the state parole board refused to free him. Thursday's federal ruling will allow Mickens-Thomas to reunite with his children and get to know his grandchildren.
