A Long Island man whose controversial child-molestation conviction was tossed two weeks ago has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has less than a month to live, his lawyer said yesterday — but prosecutors refuse to set him free.
Thomas Green, 66, was sentenced to 35 years in prison after his granddaughter’s friends — one of whom said she took her cues from “Law & Order: SVU” episodes — accused him of molestation.
A federal judge tossed the raps after Green’s attorneys punched gaping holes through the prime accuser’s timeline of the alleged abuse and shredded her credibility.
Green — who has now spent five years in prison — denied even knowing the girls when they claimed he abused them.
But despite the legal smackdown and a prison doctor’s report that revealed the rampaging cancer, Suffolk County prosecutors in federal court yesterday still refused to immediately spring Green from jail.
“The DA’s Office consistently seeks to keep Green in prison for every possible day,” said Green’s attorney, Ronald Kuby.
The office is unlikely to retry him because of the tossed conviction, but still balked on letting him live his final days free.
Suffolk ADA Karla Lato demanded Green be seen by an independent oncologist to prove he’s actually on the verge of death and worthy of an expedited release. The office cited a case where a prisoner insisted that he was dying within months but ended up carrying on for more than a year.
Prison physician Dr. Stephen John gave the exonerated prisoner just weeks to live because of a wide range of serious medical problems.
John’s report stated that his terminal cancer had taken over his lungs, prostate and colon, and was untreatable.
Judge Arthur Spatt ruled that Suffolk prosecutors had to produce their own review by this Friday, at which point he would consider Green’s immediate release.