VIERA -- The Brevard County sheriff has reopened a 28-year-old murder case that sent the wrong man to prison.
Sheriff Jack Parker said he reopened the case after a former informant testified Monday that he was told to lie about the 1981 murder of James Dvorak.
The informant said a sheriff’s detective told him to implicate William Dillon for the murder, in exchange for the informant’s own freedom.
Dillon was convicted, and spent 27 years in prison before DNA evidence excluded him from a piece of evidence.
Dillon was released from prison in 2008, and state prosecutors dropped all charges against him.
He made his case Monday to get compensation from the state of Florida, and the former informant’s testimony could be critical in convincing lawmakers that Dillon deserves to be compensated.
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