LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A man who spent nearly 30 years behind bars for a 1993 murder in East Los Angeles was declared factually innocent of the crime by a judge Friday.
Humberto "Beto" Duran was freed from prison two years ago but had to go through numerous court proceedings to officially clear his name.
Last October, L.A. County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II had vacated Duran's conviction and potential life prison sentence for the Dec. 18, 1993, killing of Albert Gonzalez.
At trial, Duran's counsel "failed to present alibi witnesses and failed to thoroughly investigate and present existing third-party culpability evidence," according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say Duran's conviction was based on the inconsistent testimony of a single witness, who has recanted her testimony.
Duran filed a motion seeking to be declared factually innocent, with the L.A. County District Attorney's Office saying that it subsequently determined following a thorough investigation that he had met his legal burden.
Duran was 19 years old when he was convicted in 1994 of murder and attempted murder.
"The trauma that Mr. Duran suffered for three decades is unfathomable," Megan Baca, director of California Innocence Advocates, said in a statement. "We are deeply grateful to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, specifically Deputy District Attorney (Lara) Bazan and District Attorney Hochman, and to the court for seeing the truth, applying the correct legal standard, and ensuring that Mr. Duran is finally vindicated."
City News Service contributed to this report.