A man in New York, United States, Kenneth Windley, has been released from prison after spending nearly two decades behind bars for a robbery he did not commit.

Windley, 61, was freed on Monday after a Brooklyn judge overturned his conviction following a fresh review of the case by prosecutors, who confirmed he had no involvement in the crime.

He had been convicted of second-degree robbery in 2007 and sentenced to 20 years to life after being linked to a 2005 incident in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbourhood.

“It has taken many years, but today we are able to validate his account, release him from prison, and exonerate his name,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

Speaking outside the courthouse, Windley said: “It cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that’s all that matters.”

The case stemmed from a robbery on April 1, 2005, when two men followed a 70-year-old victim into his apartment building and attacked him in an elevator, making away with $485 in cash and two blank money orders.

Authorities later linked Windley to the crime after he used one of the stolen money orders to purchase a stove for his mother.

He was arrested after the victim identified him as one of the attackers. However, Windley consistently denied involvement, maintaining that he had unknowingly bought the money order from two men outside an appliance store.

During his trial, he said the men were “hustlers” who sold items on the street and that he believed he was simply helping them by buying the order.

Windley also told the court he had never used a money order before and did not know it could have been stolen.

His conviction was largely based on the victim’s identification and his possession of the money order.

Years later, Windley traced the actual perpetrators, who were already serving prison sentences for a series of robberies targeting elderly men returning home from banks.

The men confirmed to prosecutors that Windley had no role in the Crown Heights robbery. Their statements were backed by recorded prison phone calls and emails, leading to the decision to vacate his conviction and secure his release. (NBC News)

•Kenneth Windley, left, leaves a courthouse with his mother, Francina Windley Patterson, in the Brooklyn borough of New York

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