Harrisburg Man Who Was Freed After Murder Conviction Overturned Must Now Report Back To Prison
By Pat Loeb
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- A Supreme Court decision this week has created a difficult situation for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office--and for a Harrisburg man who was trying to start a new life after his murder conviction was overturned on appeal.
Lorenzo Johnson was serving a life sentence for his role in a 1995 murder until last year, when a federal appeals court overturned his conviction.
Prosecutor Will Stoycos says he argued that Johnson should stay in jail because the Attorney General's office planned to appeal, but lost.
"That the Supreme Court of the United States accepts such an incredibly small number of cases for actual merit review led the district judge to release him," Stoycos says.
Now, Johnson has been a free man for five months, and not only did the Supreme Court take the case, it ruled on Tuesday that Johnson's conviction should be re-instated.
Both Stoycos and Johnson's attorney, Mike Wiseman, say that in decades of practice, they've never seen a case like this.
"It's truly heartbreaking that he now has to report back to prison," says Wiseman, who adds that he'll ask the Supreme Court to reconsider.
