NEW YORK (AP) — A man recently freed from jail after authorities discovered he might have gotten a tougher punishment than he deserved because of a crime lab error has died after he was hit by a subway train in New York City.

An attorney for Nwakanma Ochei, of Hempstead, tells Newsday the ex-convict died Feb. 21.

Ochei was doing time for a felony drug conviction when prosecutors became concerned about errors at the Nassau County crime lab.

The lab was closed last year after being criticized by an accreditation agency.

When the drugs involved in Ochei’s case were sent to a new lab, authorities found less cocaine than the amount used to convict him.

He had been recharged with a misdemeanor. A judge dismissed that case Friday after hearing of his death.

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