CT High Court: Murder Convictions Wrongly Reversed

HARTFORD, CT (WCBS 880/AP) -- Wrongly convicted of murder, two Connecticut men were released from prison last year after serving 16 years. Now, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ordered new trials for the two saying the lower court was wrong to overturn their convictions.

Ron Taylor and George Gould served 16 years in prison for a murder a Superior Court judge determined they never committed. Superior Court Judge Stanley Fuger ruled in their appeals that they were victims of "manifest injustice'' and declared them "actually innocent'' after a key prosecution witness recanted and the two men were released back to their families.

But now comes word from the state's high court that the men failed to prove their innocence. They could be hauled back to serve the remainder of their 80-year term.

"The trial court improperly failed to recognize that...actual innocence requires affirmative evidence that the petitioners did not commit the crimes of which they were convicted, not simply the discrediting of evidence on which the conviction rested,'' Justice Dennis G. Eveleigh wrote in the decision.

Lawyer Peter Tsimibidaros says it was left to him to tell his client, Ron Taylor, the news. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," said Tsimibidaros.

WCBS 880's Fran Schneidau reports: Lawyer Says Latest Court Ruling Devastating

 Tsimibidaros says Taylor is terminally ill with cancer.

Prosecutor Michael O'Hare said the state will be filing motions to address Gould and Taylor's custody, after the Supreme Court's ruling becomes official on July 19. He said he and other prosecutors haven't decided yet what those motions will request.

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