The reputed leader of a notorious, violent drug gang that terrorized Liberty City in the 1990s, already taken off death row after a judge found prosecutors committed misconduct, saw his convictions and life sentences reduced Wednesday in a plea deal with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
Corey Smith, 52, was facing resentencing on two 2005 death sentences, but defense attorneys Craig Whisenhunt and Allison Miller spent years uncovering misconduct by police and prosecutors, persuading a judge last March to remove two assistant state attorneys from the case.
Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson had been considering a defense motion to vacate all his convictions, forcing a retrial, a prospect so risky the state attorney determined it was best to drop the first-degree murder convictions and life sentences and have Smith plead guilty to second-degree murder and get 30 years in state prison, having already served more than 24 of those years…