After nearly two decades behind bars for a robbery he always said he did not commit, a Brooklyn man walked out of a borough courthouse on Monday finally a free man. Kenneth Windley, convicted in 2007, had his case wiped away after prosecutors and his defense team joined forces to overturn the verdict.
A judge vacated Windley’s conviction and dismissed the indictment at the joint request of both sides, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors told the court that new evidence, including sworn statements from two other men who were convicted in similar robberies, undercut the original case. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called the ordeal a “cautionary tale” and said he had apologized privately to Windley.
The fresh evidence is laid out in a 51-page memo by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit, which says two incarcerated men admitted they were involved in a string of robberies that matched the pattern of the 2005 attack on Gerald Ross. The report recounts how one stolen money order for about $542.77 was used to buy an appliance, creating a paper trail that initially pointed investigators to Windley. The unit ultimately concluded that if jurors had known the true identities and criminal histories of the suspects, there was a reasonable probability the verdict would have been different, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Windley, now 61, told reporters he was not holding a grudge. “It cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that’s all that matters,” he said as he left the courthouse, according to the Associated Press. He was arrested in 2005, convicted two years later and sentenced to 20 years to life because of prior felony convictions, spending about 19 years behind bars.
How the Review Unfolded
The Conviction Review Unit retraced the old case from the ground up, re-examining trial files, witness statements and postal records. Investigators then reinterviewed people tied to the robbery. Those follow-up conversations produced admissions the office found too significant to ignore.
The memo describes at least seven similar robberies between April 2005 and February 2006, in which older victims were followed from banks or post offices and then robbed at their homes. With the victim in Windley’s case now deceased and witnesses’ memories faded, the unit concluded that the conviction could not stand and recommended vacating it and dismissing the indictment.
Legal Implications
Prosecutors said they will not bring new charges in the 2005 robbery. The statute of limitations has expired, and with the victim gone, a retrial would be both legally barred and practically impossible. The outcome underscores how long delays and fading memories can shut the door on criminal prosecutions, even when new admissions surface years later.
Windley left the courthouse to hugs from family members and said he planned to celebrate with relatives before deciding what comes next. His lawyer and supporters praised the Conviction Review Unit’s work and said the decision is a reminder that a justice system worthy of the name has to be willing to correct its mistakes, even if it takes 19 years.
