Michael Rhynes has all charges formally dismissed after 37 years in prison

Michael Rhynes on Monday had all lingering criminal charges from his 1984 arrest dismissed, closing the book on a wrongful double murder conviction that took nearly 40 years of his life.

First Assistant District Attorney Perry Duckles declined to retry Rhynes on the original charges or to dispute the decision last month by acting state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Miller to vacate his conviction after two jailhouse informants recanted. The remaining active indictments on the original charges were formally dismissed and sealed.

"It's a new day for us," said Michelle Miller, his daughter.

Rhynes, 62, spent 37 years in state prison after he and three other men were convicted of murder and other charges related to a double murder at a Rochester bar in 1984. He protested his innocence since the day he was arrested but did not succeed in earning his freedom until December.

His conviction was based almost entirely on the testimony of two men, Joe Smith and Roy Timmons. Both testified at trial that Rhynes had admitted to them in Monroe County Jail that he'd been part of the robbery gone bad. Both received help with their own legal problems in exchange for their testimony; both admitted under oath in early 2023 that they had lied about Rhynes.

Duckles signaled last month that prosecutors would not seek another trial. That made Monday's court hearing a formality, albeit an important one.

After the convictions were vacated, Rhynes was in the same legal position he faced in 1984: indicted on murder and other serious felony charges, but not yet convicted. On Monday those indictments were cleared, leaving Rhynes a fully free man.

He arrived in court wearing a black pork pie hat with a red feather. It was something he'd been waiting to wear for a long time, he said, and this was the day.

More: 'I've always had hope': Rochester man wrongfully imprisoned for decades speaks out

More: Who is Michael Rhynes? The story behind an exonerated Attica prisoner who remade his life

'Simply not enough evidence' to re-try Rhynes for murder

The dismissal of the indictments happened in a way that reflected the unusual progression of the original case.

Before the initial criminal trial in 1986, the prosecution believed it lacked sufficient evidence and did not object to a defense motion to drop the charges.

The judge, Raymond Cornelius, nonetheless insisted that prosecutors push forward. It was after that ruling that Smith and Stoddard, the jailhouse informants, came forward.

“It was unusual at the time and I don’t think I’ve heard of it happening since,” Duckles said. “When the parties agree on something in the case, the judge typically takes that (seriously). … Our office at the time did the right thing, and our ethical obligations haven’t changed in the last 40 years.”

Duckles said there was no foundation for a new prosecution. He attempted to reach Rhynes’ three original co-defendants, all of whom are still in prison, but they either did not answer or did not provide information worth bringing back to court four decades later.

“There’s just not enough evidence,” he said.

Again on Monday, Rhynes’ attorneys made a motion to drop and seal the indictments. Again the prosecution said it did not oppose the motion.

This time, the judge made a simple ruling: “So ordered.” Rhynes left the courtroom free and clear.

It all happened in the same Hall of Justice where he was first pronounced guilty in 1986. His sister, Petronia Rhynes, was in the courtroom that day as well.

“It was full of gloom and depression,” she said. “But all that faded away, because I know who God is.”

Victim's family: 'I thought we were over this'

While speaking with reporters outside the courtroom, Rhynes briefly came face-to-face with Elizabeth Ferrari-Wiberg, whose grandfather Enrico Ferrari was killed in the 1984 shooting.

She asked him what he thought about the judge declining to pronounce him innocent as opposed to simply dismissing his convictions. Some of his family members responded angrily, but Rhynes asked them to calm down and waited until Duckles escorted Ferrari-Wiberg away.

A little while later, Ferrari-Wiberg said her family was upset by the sudden news of Rhynes’ release. The District Attorney’s office did not give them advance notice, something Duckles conceded was a mistake.

She brought a posterboard to the courtroom decorated with photographs of her grandfather, and of the family he lost or never got to know.

“I don’t want him to be forgotten,” she said. “I thought we were over this – I thought we were done. … Now the last 40 years are all wrapped up in this.”

Rhynes and his family said they have no remaining ill will toward the prosecution, his co-defendants or anyone else involved in his wrongful imprisonment.

“If I did, it’s long gone,” he said.

Next for Michael Rhynes: deep breaths

With his criminal record wiped clean, Rhynes is now free to pursue a civil lawsuit against the city of Rochester and Monroe County.

Such a lawsuit could be based on actions by the Rochester Police Department or prosecutors before the conviction, or actions taken after the conviction to keep Rhynes imprisoned.

For example, Smith testified under oath that he contacted the District Attorney's office multiple times in the 1990s to disavow his statement that Rhynes had admitted the murder to him in jail. He never received an answer to any of those letters, he said.

After nearly 40 years away from the outside world, Rhynes has slowly begun to re-acclimate.

On the Saturday before Christmas he gathered with his family at his sister Petronia’s house to share a meal and to meet his nieces and nephews who were born after he was imprisoned.

“He was overjoyed; we were overjoyed,” Petronia Rhynes said. “We were just talking and laughing and dancing.”

Rhynes has been venturing out in public in the last two weeks, his daughter said. The two of them went to Red Lobster to try the popcorn shrimp, and he went grocery shopping at Price-Rite with his nephew.

He also saw the movie “The Color Purple” at the Little Theatre, one of his favorite places to spend time before he was convicted. He hardly recognized the renovated building, he said, with one exception: it’s still cold inside.

Rhynes founded a theater company and published a poetry book while behind bars, among other things. Speaking outside the courtroom, however, he guarded his words carefully.

A reporter asked: What was the first thing you did when you stepped outside Attica Correctional Facility last month?

“Took a deep breath.”

And what’ll be the first thing you do today?

“Take another deep breath.”

And for the rest of your life?

“Take a series of deep breaths.”

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Michael Rhynes charges in Rochester double murder conviction dismissed