New York City — In 1997, Walter Johnson was sentenced to five life terms for a robbery conviction at a time when he went by “King Tut” and was known as a notorious New York criminal. But 27 years later, the same judge who locked him away believed the former inmate deserved freedom.
“My only expectation was to leave prison with a toe tag,” Johnson told CBS News while, for the first time, sitting beside the judge who freed him.
A federal jury in 1996 convicted Johnson of seven counts, including robbery, witness tampering and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine…