In December 1982, four armed men burst into a bodega in Brooklyn serving as a front for marijuana dealing and ordered two men working inside to hand over drugs. The men then shot the clerks, killing one of them, Jairam Gangaram, a 32-year-old father of four girls. Five years later, a jury convicted Detroy Livingston of second degree murder following the testimony of a troubled young woman with an addiction to crack cocaine who claimed to be at the scene. Mr. Livingston, who had rejected a plea deal that would have set him free within 12 years, was sentenced to 25 years to life. On Friday, prosecutors from the office of the Brooklyn district attorney, Eric Gonzalez, agreed that Mr. Livingston’s conviction should be vacated and the charges against him dismissed.

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Persons: Jairam, Edward McClean, Detroy Livingston, Livingston, Eric Gonzalez, Livingston’s, Gangaram’s, Karen Dannett Locations: bodega, Brooklyn