Louis Taylor was a teenager when he was convicted of starting a Tucson (AZ) hotel fire that killed 29 people. He has since spent more than four decades in prison, consistently maintaining his innocence, reports CBS News.
On Tuesday, he is expected to be released as part of a deal with prosecutors that forces him to plead no contest in the case, but sets him free about a month after his 59th birthday.
Taylor was sentenced to 28 consecutive life sentences in the December 1970 fire at the Pioneer Hotel, where employees of an aircraft company were celebrating at a Christmas party.
Many guests were trapped in their rooms as the fire engulfed the building, and fire truck ladders were too short to reach the upper floors. Some people jumped to their deaths while others burned in their rooms. Most victims died from carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Taylor, who is black, contends he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury after he says police failed to investigate other suspects. Reports at the time indicate Taylor was helping people escape the fire before being arrested later that night.
His appeals were exhausted after the U.S. Supreme Court denied him a new trial in 1983.
Police at the time then began reviewing evidence, and a volunteer legal group, the Arizona Justice Project, examined case files to determine whether he received a fair trial. However, the lead fire investigator on the case told The Associated Press he stands by his determination that it was arson.
The Arizona Justice Project, which works on behalf of inmates believed to be wrongly convicted, asked a court in October to dismiss the case or hold an evidentiary hearing, noting several experts using modern forensic science could testify that it was indeterminable whether the fire was arson. The lawyers also contend prosecutorial misconduct at Taylor’s trial when his defense was not provided with reports indicating no accelerants were found.
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