Judge frees New York man after sentencing him to 5 life terms 27 years ago
Story by Scott MacFarlane • 9h
New York City — In 1997, Walter Johnson was sentenced to five life terms for a robbery conviction at a time when he went by "King Tut" and was known as a notorious New York criminal. But 27 years later, the same judge who locked him away believed the former inmate deserved freedom.
"My only expectation was to leave prison with a toe tag," Johnson told CBS News while, for the first time, sitting beside the judge who freed him.
A federal jury in 1996 convicted Johnson of seven counts, including robbery, witness tampering and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.
Last summer, 90-year-old U.S. District Judge Frederic Block decided to give Johnson a second chance in a landmark ruling where Block acknowledged that he had been inexperienced during the initial sentencing and that the rarely used 1990s "three strikes law" — which required life sentences for certain third criminal offenses — was antiquated and too inflexible.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/judge-frees-new-york-man-after-sentencing-him-to-5-life-terms-27-years-ago/ar-AA1zAQ35?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=c78ad751493145eebad3387b6ed639d6&ei=106
