The prosecutor's job is not to robotically, bureaucratically follow a fixed process. They have a lot of latitude and can choose to pursue a defendant for maxim

The prosecutor's job is not to robotically, bureaucratically follow a fixed process. They have a lot of latitude and can choose to pursue a defendant for maximum prison time, minimum prison time, something in between, persuade them to take a plea, or drop the charges completely. Many options, really. For this prosecutor's office to have put this fellow away for so many years on not even circumstantial evidence but merely the good faith acceptance of three unreliable sources with criminal records, and the hair which turned out to be erroneously identified, despite the bloody handprint that was not a match, and despite the victim's failure to identify the defendant, is almost obscene. Sadly, however, it's not unheard of at all; our criminal justice system is far from perfect, though it probably still ranks near the top in a world where justice is difficult to obtain in most countries outside of western Europe and North America.