Miss. man freed from prison after more than 25 years on death row

Miss. man freed from prison after more than 25 years on death row
Eddie Lee Howard spent almost thirty years in prison. Much of that time was spent on death row. (Source: MS Department of Corrections)
By Associated Press | January 12, 2021 at 11:56 AM EST - Updated January 12 at 4:49 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge has dismissed a murder charge against a Black man who spent more than a quarter-century on death row.

Eddie Lee Howard was convicted of capital murder in the 1992 stabbing death of an 84-year-old woman.

District Attorney Scott Colom says Monday that prosecutors are dropping the murder charge. He says a dentist’s bite-mark testimony used to convict Howard has been discredited.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in August that Howard deserved a new trial.

He was freed from death row in December. And his attorneys say Howard has now been released from prison.