IT TOOK 27 years for justice to finally visit upon Michael Austin, who until yesterday was still in jail for a murder he may not have committed. But time hasn't embittered the sweetness of his victory.
The fact that his conviction was overturned this week restores faith in our entire criminal justice system and reinforces the notion that fairness matters more than convenience or appearance when it comes to crime and punishment.
It would have been easier, perhaps, to let Mr. Austin rot in prison, to deny the piles of evidence that he didn't do anything and the growing calls for justice from this community. (Certainly, that was the path preferred by Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy.)
But Circuit Court Judge John Carroll Byrnes rightfully saw the fallacy and danger in that thinking. If eyewitness backtracking and the specter of innocence could be ignored to allow one man to sit in jail forever, justice would mean less to all of us.
We hope Ms. Jessamy gets that message clearly now, because her office still controls Mr. Austin's fate to some degree.
She could retry him for the charge or try to appeal Judge Byrnes' ruling to a higher court.
She shouldn't do either. Mr. Austin has suffered enough, and the sham of his conviction has done more than enough damage to the credibility of this city's troubled criminal justice system.
Judge Byrnes wiped a stain from the judicial record with his decision; Ms. Jessamy should not work to besmirch that record again.
It's too bad it took a circuit court judge, 27 years after the fact, to intervene in this matter. (Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke also deserves high praise for championing Mr. Austin's cause once his plight became public.) It's even sadder that so many political leaders did nothing to help Mr. Austin win his freedom.
He's free now, though, and that's what matters. We're all better off for that fact.
