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Man freed after spending 19 years in California prison

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Man freed after spending 19 years in California prison

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man who spent 19 years behind bars for a gang-related shooting was released from prison on Friday but will continue to fight to prove his innocence, his lawyers said.

Emon Barnes, 34, of Compton, was released from the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles a week after a judge granted a request from prosecutors to change his 40-years-to-life sentence to time served.

Barnes was greeted by his mother and other family members, according to Loyola Marymount University’s Project for the Innocent, which represented him.

“It’s been a lot and there have been so many ups and downs. So I’m just thankful,” Barnes said, according to KNX-AM radio.

Barnes was 15 when he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for a 2001 shooting in his Los Angeles suburb.

The case largely was based on testimony from a teenage shooting victim who identified Barnes but later recanted, according to the Project for the Innocent.

Barnes has said he was home with his mother at the time of the shooting, and his attorneys are trying to have his conviction vacated.

The case took on urgency because Barnes, who has sickle cell disease, contracted the coronavirus at San Quentin State Prison, which is dealing with an outbreak that has seen more than 2,200 inmates infected. Twenty-six have died.

Barnes recovered.

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