Witness' sister helps free man convicted in 1979 killing

Kash Delano Register will be released after being convicted of the killing, mainly on the testimony of a witness that has now been discredited.
Kash Delano Register begins to cry as he realizes he will be a free man
In 1979, Brenda Anderson testified that a young man with whom she had gone to high school shot her elderly neighbor to death.
Thirty-four years later, Anderson's sister Sharon took the stand and said the account, which helped send the young man to prison, was a lie.
On Thursday, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sided with Sharon Anderson and threw out the conviction of Kash Delano Register, who maintained his innocence during more than three decades as inmate No. C11693.
Judge Katherine Mader's ruling eviscerated the case against Register, 53, who was convicted mainly on eyewitness testimony that his attorneys say was false. They also said police and prosecutors suppressed evidence that would have helped Register's defense, accusations that Mader found credible.

When Mader announced her decision, Register puckered his face as if holding back tears, dropped his head to the table and trembled. His mother, Wilma, heaved with sobs.
"Thank you Lord Jesus for giving me my child back," she cried, as she hugged attorneys from Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent who represented her son.
Register's attorneys expect him to be released soon. Los Angeles County prosecutors said they would decide by next month whether to appeal her decision or retry him.
Prosecutors had argued that about 12:30 p.m. on April 6, 1979, Register shot Jack Sasson five times in the carport of his West Los Angeles home. Sasson, 78, died three weeks later.
At trial, the physical evidence against Register was scant, court papers said. None of the seven fingerprints found on Sasson's car matched Register's. Police never recovered the murder weapon.
They did seize a pair of pinstriped pants from Register's closet, which had a speck of blood smaller than a pencil eraser. But it was of little value — the blood type, O, matched Sasson and Register.
Instead, the prosecution relied on eyewitness testimony, notably that of Brenda Anderson. Then 19, Anderson said she was at home when she heard gunfire, looked out the window and saw an African American man sprinting from the Sassons' carport, court papers said. She identified him as Register, though Register's girlfriend testified that he was with her at the time of the shooting.
Register was convicted and sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. Each time he appeared before the parole board, he refused to admit guilt.