One hundred days after a federal jury convicted Numero Uno Supermarket founder and president George Torres of a phone-book's worth of racketeering charges, he has been released from the prison he's been locked up in since June, 2007. This morning prosecutors requested that U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson dismiss two of the most serious charges on which Torres was found guilty, claiming new jailhouse tape recordings reveal exculpatory comments made by the prison informants whom the government had relied upon so heavily during the trial.

Wilson, who reportedly made no secret, during the trial, of his skepticism of the prosecution's case, ordered Torres released from the downtown federal lockup. The judge had, during the trial, ordered Torres' brother and co-defendant, Manuel Torres, removed from the proceedings and declared not guilty of the charges he had faced.

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