‘I can finally put this injustice behind me’: Conviction set aside for man who spent nearly 45 years in prison for robbery and shootings he didn’t commit

Willie Williams had his conviction set aside by a judge in Florida. (Innocence Project of Florida)

Willie L. Williams Jr., right, had his conviction set aside by a judge in Florida. (Innocence Project of Florida/Saskiya Fagan)

A Florida judge set aside the wrongful conviction of a man who served nearly 45 years in prison for an armed robbery based on shaky evidence that prosecutors failed to disclose — their star witness identified him as the shooter after having had his memory “hypnotically refreshed” by a police lieutenant self-taught in hypnotism.

In a hearing on Wednesday, Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Lindsay Tygart vacated Willie L. Williams Jr.’s 1976 convictions for attempted murder and robbery. The move came after the Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Review (CIR) examined the case and uncovered the exculpatory evidence, his lawyers said in a news release.

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