Jailed 23 years, NY man is freed, has heart attack
A New York City man whose murder conviction was overturned after 23 years in prison has suffered a heart attack on his second day of freedom.
David Ranta's lawyer told The New York Times the former inmate had a serious heart attack Friday night and was being treated at a New York hospital.
Ranta walked out of jail Thursday after a judge threw out his conviction in the 1990 killing of a Brooklyn rabbi.
"I said from the beginning," Ranta told reporters outside the court, "I had nothing to do with this case."
Asked what he planned to do now, he replied, "get the hell out of here."
Brooklyn prosecutors had recently concluded Ranta's prosecution in the death of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger was fatally flawed.
Werzberger was killed by a bandit fleeing a botched robbery. One witness said a police lineup that helped convict Ranta had been rigged.
According to ABC News, an eyewitness, who was a child at the time of the murder, came forward to say he had been coached to pick Ranta out of the line up.
Ranta is 58. He told reporters Thursday that his new freedom was emotionally overwhelming.
