He was convicted of murder and facing life in prison. But 21-year-old George Mathews was given another chance at freedom today when the Appeals Court overturned his conviction and granted him a new trial.
In November, Mathews was convicted of the April 7th, 2002 murder of Taxi man Denver Hamilton Mathews' attorney Hubert Elrington successfully argued that the conviction should be thrown out because a juror in the murder trial was seen fraternizing with a witness.
The three member Court of Appeals agreed and ordered a retrial.
The backdrop to all this is that the key witness who helped convict Mathews is now dead. That witness was Marlon Budd who was gunned down in a hit on December 1st last year.
Mathews will remain behind bars while he waits on that new trial.