A US appeals court has overturned the murder conviction for a former FBI agent linked to mobster Whitey Bulger.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Florida today ruled that former agent John Connolly was improperly convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the 1982 slaying of a gambling executive.
A hit man testified that he killed World Jai-Alai President John Callahan after ex-agent Connolly tipped Bulger and others that the executive would implicate them in another death.
In the court's new ruling, a panel of judges determined in a 2-1 vote that Connolly's second-degree murder conviction was barred by the statute of limitations.
Connolly has long denied a role in Callahan's slaying.
