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Michael Austin was convicted of shooting to death Roy Kellam, a security guard, at a Crown Food Market.  A store clerk, Jackie Robinson, who identified Austin at trial, had changed his initial description of the shooter after police charged him in another case.  Robinson's family later said Jackie was not a civic-minded college student as prosecutors told jurors, but a drug dealer.  Following Robinson's death by heroin overdose in 1997, his brother came forward and said that Jackie had confessed to him that he sent an innocent man to prison.  Another eyewitness, the store's assistant manager, was not called at trial, but had given a physical description that did not fit Austin.  Austin also clocked out of his factory job at 4:53 p.m., 27 minutes before the murder, and given the distance from his job to the store, could not have committed the murder.

In July 2001, after spending 27 years in prison, Austin's lawyer presented overwhelming evidence of his innocence, police misconduct, and ineffective counsel by his original defense lawyer.  A key piece of evidence was the eyewitness testimony of Erik Komitzski, the assistant store manager.  Komitzski, who is 5 feet 9 inches tall, said he knew, absolutely, that the shooter was not taller than himself because he stood eyeball to eyeball with him.  Austin is 6 feet 5 inches tall.  Austin was freed in Dec. 2001, pardoned in 2003, and was awarded $1.4 million in 2004 for his 27 years of wrongful imprisonment.  (AP News) (CNS) (CM)  [9/06]

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