U.S. District Chief Judge Brian Jackson overturned the 1974 murder conviction of Herman Wallace, a man held 41 years in solitary confinement at the state penitentiary at Angola and at another prison, The Associated Press reported.
George Kendell, Wallace's defense attorney, said the ruling gave his client "some measure of justice after a lifetime of injustice." Wallace's lawyers also said that his murder conviction rested on the testimony of four prisoners who later withdrew their statements, news reports said.
Wallace had been serving for armed robbery when an Angola guard had been fatally stabbed. He and two others, known as the Angola 3, were convicted in the murder of Brent Miller, and he was moved into isolation.
Wallace and another member of the Angola 3 -Albert Woodfox- claimed they were targeted by authorities because of their activism in the Black Panthers.
Four years ago, Wallace was moved to "closed-cell restriction" a Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, news reports said.
Even as Wallace is now a free man, he is terminally ill with liver cancer. After his release, his family, including his sisters, nephews and nieces moved to hospice care in New Orleans.
"He has claimed there was an unfair trial for 41 years and finally we have that ruling. For him to pass on from this world with friends and family at his side is extremely important," attorney Nick Treticosta told CNN on Tuesday night.
"Tonight, Herman Wallace has left the walls of Louisiana prisons and will be able to receive the medical care that his advanced liver cancer requires," his legal team added in a statement.
"It took the order of a federal judge to address the clear constitutional violations present in Mr. Wallace's 1974 trial and grant him relief. The state of Louisiana has had many opportunities to address this injustice and has repeatedly and utterly failed to do so."
