Man Exonerated 33 Years After Bed Stuy Murder He Didn't Commit: DA

BED STUY, NY — A New York City man was finally freed Thursday from a wrongful murder conviction that put him behind bars for nearly two decades, despite exonerating witness testimony and a partial confession from the actual gunman, prosecutors announced.

Emel McDowell, 50, spent 19 years in prison after her was wrongfully convicted for the murder of a 19-year-old man in Bed Stuy in 1990, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

The conviction came after police investigated the murder for under 24 hours straight and despite conflicting accounts from witnesses and a friend's written partial admission of guilt, prosecutors said.

"Our legal system failed Emel McDowell," Gonzalez said in a news release.

The friend was identified by several witnesses and McDowell as the gunman, prosecutors said.

But McDowell, then about 18, was convicted and only released in 2009, when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his release three years early, prosecutors said.

He'd wanted exoneration, and submitted in 2007 six witness testimonies stating he was innocent and even a letter from his friend who all but admitted his guilt.

"I don’t think I deserve to walk the face of the earth because one of my friends is locked up, for something that he didn’t do,” wrote in the letter.

Yet a recent investigation from the current District Attorney's Conviction Review Unit found the letter was never investigated or even handed over to the prosecution.

Those investigators followed up with the friend, who admitted to shooting 19-year-old Jonathan Powell in Bed Stuy out of self defense and said McDowell hadn't even had a gun, prosecutors said.

Investigators said the friend's “demeanor and emotional state throughout the interview demonstrated that he was overwhelmed with guilt and relieved to confess,” according to the District Attorney's office.

McDowell is the second New York City man to be exonerated of wrongful murder charges in just two weeks.

Last week, Gonzalez exonerated a man convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder in 2004 based on a witness identification error, CBS News reported.

The Conviction Review Unit still has 50 open cases.