text: An Alabama inmate who spent nearly 30 years on death row will go free on Friday after prosecutors told a court there is not enough evidence to link him to the 1985 murders he was convicted of committing. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Laura Petro on Thursday dismissed the case against Anthony Ray Hinton. The district attorney's office told the judge Wednesday that their forensic experts couldn't determine if six crime scene bullets — which were the crux of the evidence against Hinton at an expected retrial — came from a gun investigators took from his home. Hinton was convicted of two 1985 murders that occurred during robberies of fast-food restaurants near Birmingham. Prosecutors linked Hinton to the killings through a .38-caliber revolver found at his house. Couldn't match the bullets: Anthony Ray Hinton, pictured this week, spent nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row but will be freed Friday morning after prosecutors told a judge they won't re-try him for two slayings . All smiles: Anthony Ray Hinton hugs his family members  after learning he will walk free after spending 30 years behind bars . The U.S. Supreme Court last year sent Hinton's case back for a potential new trial, which prompted a re-examination of the evidence. 'We've been hoping for this. We've believed that this should have happened,' said Bryan Stevenson, Hinton's attorney and director of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. The Jefferson County District attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment. Stevenson has been arguing for 16 years that Hinton was innocent and that he was at his job at a warehouse when the crimes were committed. Hinton wept Wednesday night after learning the news that he would finally go free, Stevenson said. A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said Hinton is expected to be released from the Jefferson County Jail on Friday morning. 'Every day, every month, every year that the state took from him, they took something that they don't have the power to give back. While this moment is quite joyous and is quite wonderful, this case is quite tragic,' Stevenson said. At his initial trial, state experts testified that the four bullets fired during the robberies, and another two from a similar robbery-shooting at a Quincy's restaurant in Bessemer, had all been fired from a revolver found at Hinton's home. Going free: Former death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton, pictured in an undated older mugshot and an undated more recent mugshot, will go free on Friday after being imprisoned for 30 years . The Supreme Court last year ruled that Hinton had 'constitutionally deficient' representation at his initial trial. Hinton's defense lawyer wrongly thought he had only $1,000 to hire a ballistics expert to try to rebut the prosecution evidence, according the court opinion. Hinton's lawyer hired the only person willing to take the job at that price, even though he had concerns about the expert's credentials. 'He was a poor person who was convicted because he didn't have the money to prove his innocence at trial. He was unable to get the legal help he needed for years. He was convicted based on bad science,' Stevenson said. Chief Deputy Jefferson County District Attorney John Bowers met with the families of the victims of the shooting and they were angered by the news. 'Understandably they were upset and frustrated by the news. But ultimately they understood why we couldn't proceed with the prosecution of these cases,' Bowers said. 'There's no closure one way or the other,' he added. 'The experts did not say it did come from the pistol or that it didn't come from the pistol.' 'It's never happened in all my years of prosecution,' Bowers said told AL.com of releasing a death row inmate. New beginning: Anthony Ray Hinton, pictured this week, had improper representation 30 years ago because he was poor, said his attorney . The experts were unable to tie Hinton's gun to the bullets used at the crime scene. 'Three highly-qualified and experienced ADFS forensic scientists, who are experts in the field of firearms and tool mark identification, each performed independent forensic examinations of the submitted bullets and firearm,' the motion to dismiss charges said. 'Utilizing comparison microscopy, each expert inter-compared all six bullets recovered during the investigations of the three crimes to each other and to bullets test fired through the barrel of the firearm taken from (Hinton's) home.' Bowers said that the experts who examined the gun did not find enough evidence to prove Hinton's involvement. 'Due to insufficient corresponding individual microscopic characteristics, all three experts found that they could not conclusively determine that any of the six bullets were or were not fired through the same firearm or that they were fired through the firearm recovered from (Hinton's home),'  the motion continues. 'The only potential evidence that has ever been available to the State to prove that the Defendant committed the murders of John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason depends upon an absolute, conclusive determination that the bullets recovered from their bodies were in fact fired through the barrel of the firearm taken from the (Hinton's) home,' the motionsays. 'Based on the microscopic comparisons and conclusions of all three of the ADFS firearms and tool mark identification experts, the State does not have sufficient evidence to warrant further prosecution of these cases.'
target: Anthony Ray Hinton released 30 years after being in prison on death row .
  Hinton was convicted of shooting to death two fast food restaurant mangers in two separate 1985 robberies .
  Hinton was granted re-trial by the U.S. Supreme Court and experts found that there was not enough evidence to prove Hinton's gun shot the men .
  'He was a poor person who was convicted because he didn't have the money to prove his innocence at trial,' said Hinton's attorney .