NEW YORK (AP) - A judge on Tuesday ordered the release of a homeless man charged with attempted murder after he confessed to bashing a young woman's head with a five-pound chunk of concrete.
Criminal Court Judge John Walsh ordered the release of Bentley Louis Grant, 35, without bail after a prosecutor told the court that new evidence shows that Grant might be the wrong man.
A felony complaint filed at Grant's court arraignment said at least three witnesses had seen him attack Tiffany Goldberg or had seen him fleeing.
Assistant District Attorney Amy Schwartz told the judge that her office had ''discovered new evidence that raises substantial questions about Grant's identity as the perpetrator of the crime against Ms. Goldberg.''
Schwartz said the investigation into the attack was continuing. Charges against Grant had not been dropped.
Grant's lawyer, Natasha Lapiner-Giresi, said she believes surveillance videotapes from several stores exonerate Grant.
''I believe he confessed because they (police) questioned him for 20 hours and he wanted them to stop,'' Lapiner-Giresi said.
Grant is due back in court Aug. 17 to hear the results of a psychiatric exam.
Grant was picked up July 19 and charged the next day with attempted murder for allegedly hitting Goldberg, 25, of Madison, Wis., in the back of her head with a chunk of concrete on July 9.
Goldberg suffered a cracked skull, broken teeth, a black eye and cuts and bruises after she was hit.