A Louisiana man who has spent nearly three decades on death row was slated to walk free on Tuesday, after prosecutors asked a judge to set aside his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence, citing new evidence in the case.
Glenn Ford, a black man, was convicted by an all-white jury in the 1983 robbery and murder of a 56-year-old Shreveport watchmaker, who was found shot to death behind the counter of his jewelry shop.
Acting on new information that exonerated Ford, a judge in Shreveport ordered him released from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, where he has been held on death row since March 1985.
Prison spokeswoman Pam Laborde said shortly before 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET) that Ford was being processed, but she had not yet received confirmation of his release.