Overview

• Gordon Cordeiro, 51, was released from a Maui correctional center after spending 30 years in prison for a murder he has always denied committing.
• A judge vacated his conviction based on new DNA evidence that excluded Cordeiro as a source and identified an unknown individual at the crime scene.
• The Hawaii Innocence Project argued that prosecutorial misconduct, false testimony from incentivized jailhouse informants, and ineffective legal defense contributed to his wrongful conviction.
• Cordeiro's alibi, supported by witnesses and receipts, placed him at home building a shelving unit when the murder occurred during a drug deal robbery in Maui.
• Maui County prosecutors plan to appeal the ruling, but Cordeiro's legal team asserts the new evidence makes a retrial unjustifiable.