After 18 years jail Court says man was wrongly convicted

Sri Lankan News.Net
Saturday 21st November, 2009

In 1991 21-year old Fernando Bermudez was accused of murdering a 16-year old boy after the boy punched another teenager that year in Times Square.

A year later Bermudez was convicted and sent to prison for 23 years to life.

On Friday, after serving eighteen years of that 23 year term, Bermudez was set free.

His release was ordered by New York Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo who ruled his conviction was invalid on a number of counts including the false testimony of a key witness. Other witnesses had collaberated after a police line-up before fingering Bermudez. Those witnesses later recanted their testimony. The trial was based entirely on witness reports. There was no forensic evidence linking Bremudez to the crime.

Fernando Bermudez, now 40, was released from Sing Sing prison, a maximum security facility 30 miles north of New York City, at 2pm Friday.

"God is good, God is great," he said, punching his first in the air. "He made a miracle here today."

There to meet Bermudez was his wife Crystal who had difficulty in recognising her husband.

"Please excuse my unironed shirt," Bermudez told reporters. "At least my problems have been ironed out."

Bermudez said he was going home for a home-cooked meal with his mother, and was looking forward to celebrating next week his first Thanksgiving in almost twenty years.

Manhattan prosecutors meantime say they are considering an appeal against the dismissal of the case. They say they may also seek a 27-months jail term handed down to Bermudez for a drug crime which predated the 1991 murder, and has yet to be served.

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