Judge orders release of last of "Angola 3"
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge has ordered the release of an inmate who's been in solitary confinement for more than 40 years and who is the last of the so-called Angola Three still in prison.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Brady ordered the release of Albert Woodfox. Brady also took the extraordinary step of barring Louisiana prosecutors from trying him for a third time. The state says it will appeal the ruling.
Woodfox was placed in solitary confinement in 1972 after being charged in the death of a Louisiana State Penitentiary guard in April of that year.
Woodfox has been tried twice in the guard's death, but both convictions were overturned. The state is seeking to bring him to trial a third time. But Brady said a third trial could not be fair.