TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors will not retry a Florida man who served 30 years for a racially charged murder after a judge tossed his conviction and life sentence because of new evidence.
The Tampa Bay Times reports 47-year-old Dean McKee wept Wednesday when prosecutors announced in court they dropped the charges and he was allowed to walk free.
McKee was 16 in 1987 when he and his 18-year-old brother Scott were charged with killing 41-year-old Isaiah Walker, a homeless black man. The brothers were professed neo-Nazis.
Scott McKee got a one-year sentence for testifying it was his brother who stabbed Walker. Dean McKee was convicted of murder and got life.
Judge Lisa Campbell concluded in 2017 that DNA evidence raised serious doubts about Dean McKee’s guilt and pointed to Scott McKee. He has not been charged.
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Information from: Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.), http://www.tampabay.com.
