Associated Press
VERNON, Conn. — Two Connecticut men imprisoned for 16 years in a murder that a judge says they did not commit were ordered freed on Thursday.
Ronald Taylor and George Gould were joined by their wives, families and other supporters in Rockville Superior Court, where Judge Stanley Fuger ordered their release.
Fuger said in a ruling two weeks ago that the two men were victims of “manifest injustice” when they were convicted of the 1993 killing of a New Haven store owner. The star witness against them has since recanted, and a private investigator hired by state public defenders concluded the men’s DNA was not found on a cord used to tie the victim’s hands.
Gould, who got a blue suit from his sister and mother to replace his prison clothing, said he will need some time to adjust to freedom.
“I’m trying to enjoy it. I haven’t absorbed it,” he said.
Taylor just finished a round of chemotherapy for life-threatening cancer that has spread to several organs.
“I just pray to God I can come through it,” he said.
He said he’s “ecstatic” to finally be out of prison.
“I fought this from the day they convicted me and it took until the last few years for it to really take hold,” he said.
Taylor’s wife, Mary, said she plans to take him directly from court to see his daughter, who could not attend the court hearing because she was taking a physics test.
“He wants a spaghetti dinner,” she said. “I offered him filet mignon. I offered him lobster. I offered him anything.”
Prosecutor Michael O’Hare said the state will appeal the ruling that threw out the convictions, but did not oppose the men’s release from prison in the meantime. The two men both must sign promises to return to court if charged again, to check in regularly with court officials and to avoid contact with the grocery store owner’s family.
Taylor, 51, and Gould, 48, were convicted of killing Eugenio Deleon Vega in his New Haven store in 1993 and had served 16 years of their 80-year sentences.
The star witness testified at the original trial that she saw Gould enter the store and heard him arguing with Vega about opening his safe. She said she heard a gunshot and then saw Gould and Taylor leave the store.
But last year, she testified that she had lied and that she was not at the murder scene.
The judge said the witness was a “deeply troubled” woman in 1993 who was addicted to heroin and engaging in prostitution to fuel her habit. The woman now says she was “dopesick” at the time she named the men as killers, that police kept interrogating her as her symptoms worsened, and that a detective told her he would help her buy heroin if she told them what happened.
Gerald O’Donnell, a former Cheshire police officer and state inspector who was hired as a private investigator by the public defender’s office, also found that DNA on an electrical cord used to tie DeLeon’s hands did not match Taylor or Gould.
He and the men’s wives hugged and cried after the release order was issued.
“I can’t explain it, the ability to give somebody their life back,” O’Donnell said. “It doesn’t happen to many people. It’s overwhelming.”
This is the latest of several recent Connecticut cases in which inmates who served long prison terms have been freed by new evidence.
In August, Kenneth Ireland was released after spending two decades in prison after a judge dismissed murder and rape charges against him following DNA testing that showed he could not have committed the crimes.
Miguel Roman was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1988 murder of his girlfriend, 17-year-old Carmen Lopez, but freed after he served 20 years. DNA tests showed he could not have been the killer.
James Calvin Tillman was released from prison in 2006 after serving 18 years for rape. The state awarded him $5 million for his wrongful conviction.