Gang member to be exonerated of murder
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A former Los Angeles gang member is due in court to be cleared of a murder conviction that kept him behind bars for 19 years.
Lawyers for James Edward Smith plan to ask a judge Monday to vacate his murder and attempted murder convictions involving a 1993 drive-by shooting. Prosecutors plan to support the motion.
The 38-year-old Smith was 18 when he went to prison.
His lawyers say he wasn't at the shooting scene. The only eyewitness, a victim who was shot and survived, recently recanted and said police pressured him to identify Smith as the shooter.
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