(AP) -- BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A wide-ranging federal investigation into judicial corruption in South Texas has swept up a dozen people in a web of bribes and kickbacks with a former state district judge at its center, but one crooked incident in particular stands out for its result: a convicted killer went free.
Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos' office got a murder conviction and 23-year prison term against Amit Livingston, but federal prosecutors allege he also orchestrated a scheme to line his own pockets that allowed Livingston to escape in 2007.
Now Villalobos is charged with conspiring with the judge and another lawyer to make money off the case.
The mother of the woman who was Livingston's victim is furious at the men who gamed the system and let her daughter's killer go.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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