A former Peekskill man who served almost half his life in prison for a murder he didn't commit saw the real killer brought to justice Wednesday.

Steven Cunningham was sentenced to 20 years to life for the death of a teenage girl back in 1989. Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongly accused and convicted of that crime when he was 16. Cunningham didn?t admit he raped and strangled Angela Correa in Peekskill until DNA cleared Deskovic last fall. At that time, Cunningham was already in prison for strangling his girlfriend?s sister.

During his sentencing, Cunningham said nothing but his attorney claims Cunningham regrets what happened to Deskovic. The mother and daughter of the girl Cunningham killed wrote a letter to the judge. They said Cunningham deserved no mercy because he ?allowed another child to be blamed and sacrificed as a lamb.?

Deskovic says now he has some closure, but he continues to battle in the legal system to recover what he lost. He says if he had been two years older when he was arrested, he could have been sentenced to death. Deskovic is fighting against the death penalty and attending college. He hopes to one day become an attorney.

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