Nearly three decades after the Suffolk district attorney’s office successfully prosecuted him for murder, prosecutors took the remarkable step of declaring that Rickey “FuQuan” McGee did not receive a fair trial. And on Tuesday, the 48-year-old walked out of custody and into his mother’s arms.

“It was like holding a newborn baby boy,” his mom, Marian Merriman, said a few minutes later as she smiled through tears.

Superior Court Judge Michael D. Ricciuti released McGee after a hearing that lasted about half an hour. He will return to court in two weeks for a hearing on whether to vacate his conviction in the murder of a convenience store clerk in 1997. In a highly unusual move by Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office , prosecutors have agreed the conviction should be vacated a

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