L.A. District Attorney describes key witness testimony as “doubtful”
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office asked a judge on Friday to release a woman who has spent more than 17 years behind bars for a murder she insists she never committed. Prosecutors said a recent investigation by their office concluded that the testimony of the star witness at the 1998 murder trial of Susan Mellen was “doubtful.” The judge, Mark S. Arnold, ordered Mellen’s release at a hearing in Torrance on Friday, saying he believed that the mother of three is innocent.