DNA evidence frees 2 Brooklyn men convicted in 1992 triple murder

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Two Brooklyn men who have spent the last 21 years in prison for three murders that DNA evidence suggests they did not commit were released Thursday on consent of the Brooklyn district attorney.

Anthony Yarbough, 39, and Sharrif Wilson, 37, were arrested in June 1992 in the slaying Yarbough's 40-year-old mother, his 12-year-old sister and another 12-year-old girl in a Coney Island housing project.

"In this case, my office examined newly discovered scientific evidence that was not available at the time of the trial," Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson said in statement to CNN. "My obligation under the law is to determine whether this new information, had it been known and presented at trial, would have been more likely than not to cause the trial jury to return a different verdict."

In 2013, new DNA evidence from under Yarbough's mother's fingernails matched sperm from the 1999 unsolved rape and murder of Migdalia Ruiz of Brooklyn, according to an investigation by the Medical Examiner's office.

Anthony Yarbough, left, and Sharrif Wilson were released Thursday on consent of the Brooklyn district attorney after DNA evidence suggests they did not commit the crimes they were convicted for.

Yarbough and Wilson were already incarcerated when the 1999 rape and murder occurred, according to Adam Perlmutter, Wilson's attorney.

"Based on this new evidence, I believe a jury would have been more likely to return a different verdict," Thompson said.

Zachary Margulis-Ohuma, Yarbough's attorney, is glad justice has finally been served.

"Anybody looking at this evidence with an open mind would see that there is no chance in the world that Tony murdered his mother and these two little girls," Margulis-Ohuma said.

Read more:
DNA evidence frees 2 Brooklyn men convicted in 1992 triple murder