In April 2009, Jarnard Maurice Williams was sentenced to life plus 15 years in prison for his conviction in a 2007 shooting death.
Last week, he walked out of the Chatham County jail after more than 10 years because his murder conviction was thrown out, according to the Savannah Morning News.
On appeal, a U.S. magistrate judge found in August 2016 that prosecutors suppressed evidence of a “tacit cooperation agreement” with a prosecution witness at the trial, “and in doing so violated (Williams’) due process rights.”
A federal district court voided the conviction and ordered a retrial or release, and an appeals court upheld that ruling.
Williams agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in return for a sentence of time served: 10 years, two months and 25 days.
State prosecutors agreed to the deal because of the age of the case.
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