Former Death Row Inmate Joe D'Ambrosio released on bond.

[HughBeaumont]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1236245470286480.xml&coll=2

D'Ambrosio, 48, was convicted in 1989 for the murder in Cleveland Heights and sentenced to death. But in 2006, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors withheld 10 key pieces of evidence from D'Ambrosio and his lawyers that might have exonerated him in the original case.

Last September, a federal judge set a 180-day period for D'Ambrosio to be retried.

The state said it was prepared to go forth with the retrial on Monday. But the trial date was postponed after D'Ambrosio's attorneys filed a motion requesting additional forensic testing of evidence. The six-month deadline is Tuesday.

Wednesday's filing also states that at one point D'Ambrosio's lawyers discussed a plea agreement with Mason's office, after Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg said she wanted both sides to try to make a deal.

I've been following this story for several years now, since I and many others believed he was wrongly convicted. I've always held out hope that Joe would be released and for now that is a reality. It's cases like this that beg a serious review and investigations on the techniques of unscrupulous prosecutors looking for fast convictions.