LaMonte Armstrong

A Greenesboro, NC judge has released LaMonte Armstrong from prison 17 years after he was wrongfully convicted of murder. Authorities recently found a new suspect linked to the 1988 killing of Ernestine Compton, also law enforcement has found that key evidence from the case was hidden from the defense lawyers during the initial investigation. NBC 17 reports:

A man who spent nearly 17 years in prison for a Greensboro murder was ordered freed Friday after authorities linked the killing to another suspect and discovered evidence that law officers and prosecutors hid key details from defense lawyers.

Superior Court Judge Joe Turner ordered that LaMonte Armstrong, 62, be released from prison where he was serving a life sentence. Armstrong was convicted in 1995 for the 1988 killing of Ernestine Compton, one of his former professors at North Carolina A&T State University.

Turner said signing Armstrong’s release order was probably the “closest to knowing I’m doing justice, in my career, I will ever experience.”

Armstrong thanked God, adding that he took his late mother’s advice in prison.

“Every letter said this: Son, don’t forget to pray,” Armstrong said. “I never stopped praying. I never stopped. I hope she knows that.”

Key to the case was testimony from a convicted felon who has since said that police pressured him to accuse Armstrong.

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