Corey Smith, a notorious Miami gang leader, had his four Death Row murder convictions vacated in exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder and manslaughter. Reasons for vacating included uncooperative witnesses and controversy over a jailhouse informant call leading to the dismissal of a prosecutor. His new agreement entails a 30-year sentence with just five additional years remaining due to time served since 2005. Despite a 60-year sentence in a separate federal case, his potential release at age 70 marks a significant turn in his legal saga.
"Regrettably, in the almost twenty years since his conviction in 2004, essential witnesses have died, others have refused to cooperate with prosecutors, and yet others have changed their prior statements or retracted their earlier testimony."
"Smith's attorneys worked out a deal in which the former Liberty City drug kingpin agreed to a 30-year sentence and pleaded guilty to several counts of second-degree murder and manslaughter for the deaths of Angel Wilson, Cynthia Brown, Leon Hadley and Jackie Pope in the 1990s."
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