Hawaii Man Freed After 30 Years in Prison as New DNA Evidence Overturns Conviction

Gordon Cordeiro's 1994 murder conviction was vacated after DNA evidence excluded him from the crime scene, raising questions about prosecutorial misconduct and reliance on jailhouse informants.

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.