A black American, Gary Tyler, was released on Friday from the Louisiana prison where he had been held for 41 years on a sentence which later was acknowledged as unconstitutional, reported Reuters referring to the statement of 57 -year-old Gary Tyler and his family.

In 1974, Tyler was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 -year-old white boy Thomas Weber . The black teenager with his friends was passing on the bus by a band of schoolchildren , including Weber , when a shot roared . During a search of the bus the police discovered a gun. The police , based on the testimony of the white guys only arrested Tyler , accusing him of crime that applies a capital punishment. It was a jury made of white jurors only who was hearing the case, and who unanimously found the African American guilty.

In 1976, the sentence was replaced by the life imprisonment penalty. In the same year Louisiana and other states of the US abolished the death penalty. The witnesses later abandoned their testimonies enabling the authorities reduce the terms of the imprisonment three times . Finally, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard the case of 1974 and acknowledged the verdict of the jury as unconstitutional. The Court found that 16 -year-old teenager was unjustifiably judged as an adult and , moreover, the court did not adhere to the principle of presumption of innocence.

Tyler was deprived of a possibility to apply for a retrial of the case. He was held in a solitary cell for eight years, then he was transferred to а regular cell. Justice has triumphed only now, thanks to the abolition of life imprisonment in Louisiana (without the right to the amnesty) for juvenile offenders. It allowed to hold the second session  on Friday, where Tyler pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Since he spent twice as much, he was immediately released from the custody, writes TASS.