CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A former death row inmate was cleared of first-degree murder and robbery charges Tuesday because prosecutors believed there wasn't enough evidence to retry the case.

Jonathan Hoffman, who was convicted in the 1995 shooting death of a Union County jeweler, spent seven years on death row before winning a new trial in April 2004. Hoffman has been held in a maximum-security prison in Raleigh ever since, and he could be released as early as Wednesday.

Defense attorney Joseph Cheshire said Hoffman was in disbelief when told about the dropped charges.

"He just couldn't believe it," Cheshire said. "He was surprised something so dramatic in his life could happen in such a low-key way."

Union County District Attorney John Snyder said he dismissed charges because of "insufficient admissible evidence." Two witnesses have died and the prosecution's star witness, Johnell Porter, Hoffman's cousin, eventually recanted his testimony.

"What you had at the first trial is just not there," Snyder said.

Hoffman, 53, was convicted in the shooting death of jeweler Danny Cook, who was 35 when found dead in his store in Marshville. Snyder said Cook's family was extremely upset.

"Their sense of loss has not diminished with the passing of time. That's one of the hardest parts of making this decision," he said.

Hoffman's case led to the investigations of two former prosecutors in Union County whom the North Carolina State Bar charged with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in murder trials. Those charges were dropped in January 2006 when the bar decided defense attorneys didn't file their complaint in time. Last December, a special prosecutor decided not to file criminal charges.

"Because of misconduct that's been documented by others, Jonathan Hoffman never received a fair trial," Hoffman's defense attorney David Rudolph told Eyewitness News. "He should've never been arrested for this case, should've never been indicted, should've never been convicted."

Porter got immunity from state and federal prosecutions, money and a reduction in a federal sentence for testifying against his cousin. The problem with the deal was that the judge, jury and defense attorneys weren't aware of the deal.

The former prosecutors have said the federal prosecutor who handled Porter's bank robbery case arranged the immunity deal with Porter's attorney and never told them.

In March 2006, Porter told The Charlotte Observer that he lied on the stand because he wanted to retaliate against his cousin. He said he believed Hoffman turned on him after they were indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of robbing a Huntersville bank.

Porter also said Hoffman stole money from him.

The Hoffman case is at least the second case of a former death row inmate in North Carolina being exonerated. Alan Gell was acquitted in 2004 of a 1995 killing after it was revealed that prosecutors withheld key evidence during his original trial.

"I think in the last five to six years, there's a fairly well-demonstrated pattern of wrongful convictions in North Carolina that are only now coming to light because of our new open discovery law," Cheshire said.

Last month, Gell was sentenced to five years in prison on sex charges. He admitted he had sex with his then-15-year-old girlfriend. The couple has a child, now 16 months old.