Ex-soldiers get bail in murder case after 25 years in prison
ATLANTA (AP) — More than 25 years after being locked away for a killing their lawyers say they didn't commit, three former soldiers are free on bail and preparing to go home to spend the holidays with their families.
Mark Jason Jones, Kenneth Eric Gardiner and Dominic Brian Lucci were in their early 20s when they were convicted of murder in the Jan. 31, 1992, slaying of Stanley Jackson in Savannah, Georgia. Prosecutors said the crime was racially motivated. The three former soldiers are white, and Jackson was black.
The Georgia Supreme Court last month ruled that state prosecutors improperly withheld evidence that would have helped their defense, and the men were entitled to a new trial.