Brooklyn man's robbery conviction vacated after serving 19 years
Kenneth Windley, now in his 50s, was convicted of robbing a 70‑year‑old man and cashing a stolen money order linked to the crime. Windley has long maintained he was innocent and said he unknowingly bought the money order from two men who lied to him about where it came from.
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A Brooklyn man who spent nearly two decades in prison for a 2005 robbery in Crown Heights had his conviction vacated Monday after prosecutors said new evidence showed he should never have been found guilty.
Kenneth Windley, now in his 50s, was convicted of robbing a 70‑year‑old man and cashing a stolen money order linked to the crime. Windley has long maintained he was innocent and said he unknowingly bought the money order from two men who lied to him about where it came from. His attorneys said Windley even identified one of those men to police at the time.
According to Windley’s legal team, those same men were later tied to a pattern of similar robberies. They argued that if that information had been available during the original investigation, Windley would not have been convicted.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and its Conviction Review Unit agreed. In court, a representative for the DA’s office said the unit “concluded if this evidence was made available at the time, it would have made for a more favorable outcome for Mr. Windley.”
Windley, who hugged family members and attorneys after the ruling, said the moment was overwhelming.
“It feels great. It feels real great,” he said. “A lot of things look different outside, but I’ll adapt.”
Windley's family had hired private counsel and an investigator to help find new evidence used to vacate the conviction.
Originally, Windley was convicted after the money order was tied to him, and after the victim identified Windley, in a process the CRU described as vague and unreliable.
A jury convicted Windley of second-degree robbery in March 2007. Because of his prior felony convictions, he was adjudicated as a persistent felony offender, increasing the mandatory time of incarceration.
He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He subsequently filed various appeals that were all denied.
His attorneys did not rule out the possibility of a civil lawsuit, saying there were “process failures” in the original case.
Windley said his first priority after walking out of court as a free man was simple - he planned to get some seafood.
