06 June 2010 :

Ernest Simmons was released from prison today, officials said. They added that he was scheduled to move to a homeless shelter near Brockway. In 1993, Simmons was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 strangulation of 80-year-old Anna Knaze. But a federal judge ruled in 2005 that prosecutors withheld some evidence that could have helped Simmons' defense, and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision and ordered the new trial. During the second trial late last year, Simmons pleaded no contest to third-degree murder, which resulted in a shorter prison sentence.