CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A former death row inmate was cleared of first-degree murder and robbery charges Tuesday because prosecutors believed there wasn't enough evidence to retry the case.
Jonathan Hoffman, who was convicted in the 1995 shooting death of a Union County jeweler, spent seven years on death row before winning a new trial in April 2004. Hoffman has been held in a maximum-security prison in Raleigh ever since, and he could be released as early as Wednesday.
Defense attorney Joseph Cheshire said Hoffman was in disbelief when told about the dropped charges.
"He just couldn't believe it," Cheshire said. "He was surprised something so dramatic in his life could happen in such a low-key way."
Union County District Attorney John Snyder said he dismissed charges because of "insufficient admissible evidence." Two witnesses have died and the prosecution's star witness, Johnell Porter, Hoffman's cousin, eventually recanted his testimony.
"What you had at the first trial is just not there," Snyder said.
Hoffman, 53, was convicted in the shooting death of jeweler Danny Cook, who was 35 when found dead in his store in Marshville. Snyder said Cook's family was extremely upset.
"Their sense of loss has not diminished with the passing of time. That's one of the hardest parts of making this decision," he said.
Hoffman's case led to the investigations of two former prosecutors in Union County whom the North Carolina State Bar charged with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in murder trials. Those charges were dropped in January 2006 when the bar decided defense attorneys didn't file their complaint in time. Last December, a special prosecutor decided not to file criminal charges.
"Because of misconduct that's been documented by others, Jonathan Hoffman never received a fair trial," Hoffman's defense attorney David Rudolph told Eyewitness News. "He should've never been arrested for this case, should've never been indicted, should've never been convicted."
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