LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Board of Pardons has voted to clear a man who spent more than two decades in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Gov. Brian Sandoval and all seven state Supreme Court justices voted to issue an unconditional pardon to 54-year-old Fred Steese. Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who is running for governor, cast the sole no vote.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reportsthat Laxalt said he relied on a letter from the Clark County District Attorney's office opposing the pardon.
Steese was convicted of the 1992 killing of a Las Vegas performer but always maintained his innocence. A judge declared him factually innocent in 2012, but the district attorney refiled charges.
In order to get out of prison, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while maintaining his innocence.
Steese told the newspaper Friday that he's "a new man" after the pardon.