Mass. judge grants new trial in 2008 slaying

BOSTON (AP) -- For more than a year, Charles Wilhite's friends and family have insisted he was wrongly convicted in a 2008 killing outside a neighborhood market in Springfield.

On Monday, a judge agreed and granted Wilhite a new trial.

The judge credited the testimony of a key prosecution witness who recanted his original identification of Wilhite as the shooter of Alberto Rodriguez. The judge said there was no physical evidence linking Wilhite to the shooting.

Wilhite and co-defendant Angel Hernandez were convicted in the shooting death of Rodriguez.

Prosecutors alleged that Hernandez paid Wilhite to shoot Rodriguez.

The witness who recanted said he was coerced by police to identify Wilhite as the shooter.

District Attorney Mark Mastroianni did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the judge's ruling.