By WDSU Digital Staff

NEW ORLEANS —

The Innocence Project New Orleans announced Monday that a man who has been imprisoned for 13 and a half years for a murder he did not commit was exonerated.

Kaliegh Smith was convicted of second-degree murder in 2010 by a non-unanimous jury verdict. He had been in prison since October 2007.

IPNO said he is expected to be released Monday to his family.

Smith was convicted based on the false testimony from the State’s “essential” eyewitness in the case.

Smith’s mother, who always believed his innocence, died a few years ago and will not see him released from prison, according to IPNO.

According to IPNO, the witness was not truthful at trial and the prosecution had in their possession and knowledge many reasons why the jury should have doubted their key witness’s testimony, but they failed to disclose this information to the defense as they are required under the law.

Read more here.