A New York man was freed from prison Monday after having spent nearly two decades behind bars for a robbery he didn’t commit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenneth Windley was linked to the 2005 crime after he bought his mother a stove with a money order that he didn’t know was stolen. Windley, 61, was convicted of second-degree robbery and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. A Brooklyn judge tossed his conviction after prosecutors re-examined his claims of innocence and concluded that he wasn\u2019t involved in the crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has taken many years, but today we are able to validate his account, release him from prison and exonerate his name,\u201d Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Windley, 61, said outside the courthouse, according to The Associated Press: \u201cIt cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Windley\u2019s conviction was connected to a robbery on April 1, 2005, in Brooklyn\u2019s Crown Heights neighborhood. Two men followed a 70-year-old man into his apartment building and robbed him in the elevator, stealing $485 in cash and two blank, unsigned money orders \u2014 one for $542, the other for $9 \u2014 according to a review of the case that the prosecutor\u2019s office released Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities connected Windley to the crime after he used the larger money order to buy his mother a stove. He was arrested when the victim identified Windley as one of the men who went through his pockets, according to the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At his 2007 trial, Windley denied that he was involved in the robbery and testified that he\u2019d used the money order only after he bought it from two men outside the appliance store for as much as $400, according to the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that he knew the men were \u201chustlers\u201d and sold things on the street but that he believed he was helping them by buying the order, the review says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Windley testified that he\u2019d never used a money order before and didn\u2019t ask whether it was stolen, according to the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Windley was convicted of second-degree robbery in March 2007. Because of previous felony convictions, he was sentenced to 20 years to life, the prosecutor\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Windley eventually tracked down the men, who were incarcerated for a series of robberies that began in 2005 and targeted elderly men who were returning home from the bank, according to the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men, who haven\u2019t been identified, confirmed for the prosecutor\u2019s office that Windley wasn\u2019t involved in the Crown Heights robbery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their accounts were corroborated with recorded prison phone calls and emails, the prosecutor\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n