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Man Jailed For 24 years Has Murder Conviction Overturned

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A man who served 24 years in prison for a fatal drive-by shooting in 1991 has been released, officials said.

The 1993 murder conviction of Ruddy Quezada, 53, was overturned Monday after Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson acknowledged his office, under his predecessor, Charles Hynes, withheld key evidence in the case, The New York Times reported.

A search of records produced a December 2004 email showing that prosecutors had issued a material-witness order to detain a witness until he agreed to testify against Quezada.

Quezada was accused of killing Jose Rosado in a drug-related murder in East New York and was arrested after two men told police he had pulled the trigger. He was convicted and sentenced 25 years to life.

Prosecutors still believe Quezada had a role in the shooting, but agreed with the defense that his due-process rights were violated during the process of appealing the conviction.

"We think the process was fine during the trial, but not during post-conviction," Oren Yaniv, a spokesman for the district attorney, told the Times.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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