The Legal Aid Society announced today that it had secured Emmanuelle Cooper’s innocence, a client who was wrongfully convicted of a 1992 murder and spent 27 years in prison, as reported by the New York Daily News.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office consented to overturning Cooper’s conviction in January after it came out that one key witness was incarcerated during the case and prosecutors did not tell that to the defense – a clear Brady violation – but the DA’s office maintained its desire to retry the case. However, this past Monday, prosecutors – citing a clear lack of evidence – agreed to drop the remaining charges against Mr. Cooper and cease with the retrial.

Jamal Johnson, Attorney-in-Charge of the Homicide Defense Task Force, represented Mr. Cooper on the retrial.

“I’m a free man now. I don’t have that burden on my back of thinking that they can frame me again. All along I know they didn’t have nothing on me. I’m an innocent person. I’m getting out a little bit more, traveling a bit more, enjoying my family,” said Mr. Cooper. “What more can I ask for? I’m enjoying life, taking it one day at a time, and I’m going to be OK.”