After spending 22 years of his life behind bars, David Ranta (now 58 years old) was released from prison Thursday, after the Brooklyn court deemed his conviction as wrongful. He was arrested in 1991 for involvement in a diamond heist gone wrong, and the murder of a rabbi who was shot during the heist and died three days later. Ranta wasn't arrested for the crimes until six months after the event took place, and by this time so much evidence was stacked against him that the court could see nothing but the need to convict him. David Ranta was then sentenced to 37.5 years in prison to life, for the second degree murder of the rabbi, Chaskel Werzberger.

According to reports, three youths were involved in the identifying of the suspect in order to place hard evidence against him for being present at the scene of the crime. At the time the court believed their testimony to be true and it played a large role in Ranta's conviction. Menachem Lieberman, one of the three youths at the time of the arrest, came forward just two years ago in 2011 claiming that he and the other boys had been coached by a detective on the case to identifying the suspect who had the big nose. At the time they did not know why, but because the detectives were with the authorities, they didn't question their motives, and they obliged. Lieberman claims that he was too young at the time (13 years old then) to realize that what he was doing wasn't right.

After Lieberman came forward with this very crucial piece of the puzzle, John O'Mara with the Brooklyn conviction integrity unit decided it was time to reopen this case and have a closer look at what happened. When interviewed O'Mara claims that there were a lot of details of the investigation that were questionable, many things that were just flat out wrong. Another piece of the case fell apart when years after the conviction a man's widow came forward after he husband had died, claiming that he was the one responsible for the shooing, not Ranta. After this and other evidence coming forward, John O'Mara said the evidence was degrading his conviction to the extent that it was the courts responsibility now to have a new verdict ruled and his conviction tossed.

One of the detective on the case, Louis Scarcela, was questioned about the case and he said that at the time of the arrest Ranta gave a confession about his involvement in the crime, and he is going to stick with believing that. Then, he was asked about the coaching of the witnesses, and he flat out denied that possibility from ever occurring; whether this is true is an entirely different story.

With the unfolding of this new evidence from the case, the court deemed his conviction as wrong and they allowed him to be a free man yet again. Judge Miriam Cyrulnik at the time of the final hearing said, with tears in her eyes, that giving just an apology is "grossly inadequate" for all that he has been put through over the past 22 years of his life, and yet that is all she can say. Ranta told reporters that he feels overwhelmed and scared for what lies out there in the world, though he was ready to make his exit and never look back.

In the event you have been arrested for a crime, contact a local criminal defense attorney in order to fight for your rights and protect your future.