| Man gets another release from jail The state of Georgia has granted a medical reprieve to a 76-year-old man jailed again after spending 40 years in prison on a robbery conviction that an Angelina County judge dismissed last year, according to a Dallas Morning News story. That means Robert Carroll Coney will soon be able to return to his Dallas home, his attorney told the newspaper. Coney in August was set free at the Angelina County Courthouse after state District Judge David Wilson ruled that his 1962 robbery conviction was based on a forced confession. Coney in late August filed a $25 million lawsuit against Angelina County. In December, Coney was arrested in Dallas on a warrant for his 1959 escape from a Georgia prison, where he had been serving an eight- to 10-year sentence for forging checks, according to the Morning News story. “I'm elated,” Coney said from the Dallas County jail, according to the story. “It strengthens my confidence in God and the goodness of people. ... I just hope they don't drag their feet (on the paperwork).” When he is released, Coney will remain under supervised restrictions similar to people on parole, the Morning News story stated. Coney suffers from diabetes, blindness and a heart condition. In 1962, Coney was convicted for the Angelina County robbery he said was a case of mistaken identity. After his release, Coney said he confessed to robbing the Lufkin grocery store after sheriff's deputies using racial slurs broke his hand and threatened to kill him. Wilson's research showed Coney probably had no legal representation before standing with a court-appointed attorney as he pleaded guilty. The robbery conviction was set aside by another court in 1976, but that order was never enforced and Coney didn't find out about it. Coney's attorney, David O'Neil of Huntsville, in December said Coney probably wouldn't survive another prison term in the Georgia penitentiary. "Now all of a sudden, after he's just starting to get his life together, the Georgia Department of Corrections wants him back," O'Neil said at the time. Andy Adams' e-mail address is aadams@coxnews.com. Staff writer Ashley Cook contributed to this story. (c) 2005 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Lufkin Daily News |