A man was released from prison Thursday after he was wrongfully convicted of killing a Brooklyn rabbi more than 20 years ago.

David Ranta, 58, was finally freed after a year-long investigation determined that the case against him had been flawed.

Ranta was convicted in 1991 of shooting Chaskel Werzberger, a Hasidic rabbi, and stealing his car after he unsuccessfully tried to rob a diamond courier in February 1990.

“The evidence no longer establishes the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Assistant District Attorney John O’Mara, chief of the conviction integrity unity of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

The investigation headed by O’Mara found that a key witness, a teenager who said he saw Ranta near the murder site, had not told the truth.

The witness said he did not recognize Ranta but selected him from a lineup after a detective told him to “pick the guy with the big nose.”

A jailhouse informant and his girlfriend also admitted that they made up a story for a favorable plea deal.

Ranta was originally sentenced to 37 years in prison and had lost his previous appeals.

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The man who shot and killed a police officer during a robbery in December was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison on Thursday.

Officer Peter Figoski, 47, responded to the scene of a burglary in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn early on Dec. 12. Lamont Pride and four accomplices were attempting to rob a drug dealer in a basement apartment. As Pride tried to flee, he encountered Figoski and shot him in the face.

Pride, 28, was convicted of second-degree murder, burglary and manslaughter. He was acquitted of first-degree murder which would have bought him a life sentence without parole.

Figoski’s mother, ex-wife and four daughters, ages 15-21, offered emotional statements about how much has been stripped away from their lives and futures with the killing of Figoski, the New York Times reports. But Pride offered no remorse, apologizing only to his own family in his last words before sentencing.

“And I want to let my two brothers know, as long as I got you in my corner till the end, we’re going to stand tall,” Pride said.

Justice Alan D. Marrus gave Pride the maximum sentence–45 years to life–but explained that it is his intention that Pride stays in prison for the rest of his life.

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