A federal judge has tossed out the murder conviction of a Brooklyn man who has served 22 years in the shotgun killing of a drug dealer in a crackhouse.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Wednesday that William Lopez should receive a new trial because his lawyer failed to call alibi witnesses, and the crackhead who fingered Lopez as the gunman has since recanted.
Lopez was convicted of blasting Elvirn Surria on Aug. 31, 1989, in a Brighton Beach drug den during a robbery.
"The only eyewitness who did claim to recognize Lopez was in the midst of a two-day crack binge on the night of the shooting and had smoked 10 to 12 vials of crack in the preceding two hours," Garaufis wrote in his decision.
"In short, the prosecution's evidence was flimsy to begin with and has since been reduced to rubble," the judge wrote.
Lopez is serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney's office said the decision is being reviewed.
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