Inmate's case goes back to court after 17 years fighting murder conviction
Fujianese migrant David Wong Kin-jin has spent the past 17 years trying to overturn his conviction for a stabbing at a US prison, which a fellow prisoner later admitted committing.
The 41-year-old Wong, who lived in Hong Kong before moving to New York in the early 1980s, was jailed in 1984 for robbing the owner of a Chinese restaurant on Long Island where he worked. While serving his term, Wong says he was framed over the stabbing of another prisoner, Tyrone Julius.
He was sentenced to between 25 years and life for second-degree murder in August 1987.
Despite repeated calls from the Chinese-American community for a retrial, little happened until Thursday, when five New York State appellate judges ordered Wong's case to be sent back to the courts.
A statement from Wong calling the ruling a significant victory was read out at a press conference in New York held by the David Wong Support Committee.