NEW YORK (AP) -- A man convicted of a 1988 murder was freed from prison Tuesday, eight days after a priest testified that another person had confessed to the slaying.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin threw out Jose Morales' conviction and released him on his own recognizance pending final approval by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Morales, 31, was convicted in 1988 for the beating and stabbing death of Jose Antonio Rivera in the South Bronx.
At a federal appeals court hearing last week, the Rev. Joseph Towle testified that another neighborhood gang member, Jesus Fornes, had told him in 1989 that he and two other people were involved in the slaying -- but not Morales.
If Fornes' statement to Towle had been disclosed at trial, "it is difficult to imagine that any reasonable jury could find Morales guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Chin wrote in a 57-page decision.
Towle testified that he kept quiet because he considered the confession by Fornes confidential. But he later questioned whether it was a sacramental confession as defined by Roman Catholic law. He reached the conclusion that it wasn't, even though he had absolved Fornes of his sin.
Fornes has since died.
"I have done what he would have wanted me to do," Towle said after Morales was released.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to deny Morales bail, arguing that Fornes' statements to Towle and others about Morales' innocence were unreliable.
The judge disagreed.
"Why would he lie to the priest? ... It makes no sense," Chin said.
Morales's co-defendant, Ruben Montalvo -- also jailed for the past 12 years -- was falsely accused as well, according to Fornes. But only Morales' appeal was addressed in the judge's ruling. Chin indicated he would also release Montalvo once defense attorneys bring that appeal before him; it was not clear when that would happen.
Prosecutors said they would fight to reinstate Morales' conviction.
