Former death row inmate Jermaine Wright pleaded no contest to 2nd degree murder Monday and will serve no further time in prison.
Wright spent 24 years behind bars awaiting execution for a 1991 murder - more than the maximum sentence of 20 years handed down for his 2nd degree murder plea. He will be released later today.
A Superior Court judge overturned Wright’s original conviction last year due to a lack of physical evidence and the prosecutor’s reliance on a heroin-fueled confession. He was released for a short time before the Delaware Supreme Court ordered a new trial.
Wright’s case sparked controversy as the state legislature debated repealing Delaware’s death penalty over the past three years.
State Supreme Court justices deemed the state’s capital punishment system unconstitutional last month, with the fate of the 13 men still on death row uncertain.
