The article reveals a tragedy of the criminal justice system unlike any other: a convicted killer at last granted a hearing on his innocence, only to have his bid for freedom overseen by a judge soon removed from the bench because of dementia.
Nelson Cruz was 16 when he was accused of killing a man in the streets of Brooklyn. Sent away for 25 years to life after a brief and flawed trial, he never gave up trying to prove his innocence. Two decades later, he got his first real shot to argue his case and gain his freedom: Judge ShawnDya Simpson had granted him an evidentiary hearing, one in which he could produce witnesses, challenge his accusers and give voice to his claims of innocence.