Man cleared in a 1996 Brooklyn killing said for decades he knew who did it. Prosecutors now agree

By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who served 14 years in prison for a deadly 1990s shooting in New York has been exonerated. Brooklyn prosecutors said Thursday they now believe the killer was an acquaintance the man has implicated for decades. Steven Ruffin was paroled in 2010 and has since built a career in sanitation in Georgia. But the 45-year-old says that getting his manslaughter conviction dismissed and his name cleared will help him move on. Prosecutors say they’re exploring whether to charge the man they now believe shot 16-year-old James Deligny on a Brooklyn street in February 1996 in a confrontation over some stolen earrings.