For more than seven years, Ryan Matthews contended...

For more than seven years, Ryan Matthews contended he had nothing to do with the May 29, 1997robbery and murder of a grocer. State District Judge Henry Sullivan dismissed the indictment at the request of prosecutors, who noted they have a year to "revisit" the case. Jurors were told that no physical evidence linked Matthews to the murder of Tommy Vanhoose. But 2 witnesses and a co-defendant identified Matthews, then 17, as the gunman. DNA found in a ski mask tossed from the getaway car was found to match that of Rondell Love, who is serving time for an unrelated killing. In addition, Matthews' lawyers said, 3 other inmates told investigators that Love had bragged about the slaying. Matthews became the nation's 115th death row inmate to be exonerated in the last 25 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. "The growing number of innocence cases provides overwhelming evidence that the death penalty is far too risky," said Richard C. Dieter, the organization's executive director. A month ago, Matthews was allowed to go home on $105,000 bond, though he had to wear an ankle bracelet so his whereabouts could be monitored.