Updated 4/29/2021 4:49 PM
Kenneth Smith, who has served nearly 20 years of a 67-year prison sentence for the 2001 murder of a McHenry restaurant owner, was granted "immediate" release from prison Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District said in its ruling.
Smith, 45, who is being held at Lawrence Correctional Center in Sumner, had been convicted three times of armed robbery and first-degree murder of Raul Briseno, the 34-year-old owner of Burrito Express.
He won appeals on each of his convictions and following the first two appeals, was tried again, resulting in another conviction and the resentencing of 67 years in prison.