A judge in a Brooklyn court overturned Mangano's conviction of Carl Miller, now 65, who was convicted 46 years ago of the murder of Rabbi David Okunov in 1979 - and declared him "not guilty.".
This is a rare ruling, which left the murder case from 47 years ago unsolved.
In a 49-page decision, the judge acquitted Miller of all charges in the fatal shooting. "There is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is in fact innocent," the judge wrote - and overturned the conviction.
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According to the New York Daily News, such a determination - factual innocence instead of ordering a retrial - is extremely rare and reflects a high level of judicial certainty.
Miller, who served 31 years in prison after his conviction in 1980, has maintained his innocence throughout. "Now I don't have to fight anymore... I never hesitated. I didn't commit this crime," he said after the verdict.
His lawyer called the decision "historically significant.".
Rabbi David Okunov, a 68-year-old Chabad follower, was murdered on October 25, 1979 - the 4th of Cheshvan 5780, while walking to the synagogue in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
The attacker shot him at close range and fled with the blue velvet bag that contained his tallit and tefillin.
The murder shocked the Jewish community in Brooklyn and thousands attended his funeral.
The original case against Miller was based largely on the testimony of a teenage witness who was initially considered a suspect and gave inconsistent testimony. Other witnesses were unable to identify Miller, and physical descriptions did not match him. Despite these discrepancies, he was convicted in 1980, at a time when investigative practices have come under increasing scrutiny ever since.
After his release, Miller continued his efforts to clear his name. The court noted that he consistently maintained his innocence, even during parole hearings where a guilty plea could have led to an earlier release.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said it was reviewing the decision and did not indicate whether it would appeal it.
Rabbi David Okinov, known as 'Rabbi David Ramener', was born in the town of Mirgrud, Ukraine, in the month of Tammuz 1912, the fourth child of his parents - Rabbi Ephraim and Esther Okinov, the late.
As a child, the family moved to the city of Ramen, near Haditz, where the late Hasidic Rabbi Yehezkel Greenpress lived, who convinced Rabbi David to transfer to study at the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva. At first, Rabbi David's parents did not agree, but Rabbi David ate a hungry Sabbath until his parents agreed to send him to the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in the city of Kremenchug. Later, he studied in several underground yeshivahs throughout Russia - and was even arrested by the KGB, but was released after one day.
In 1941, during World War II, he was drafted into the Soviet Army and was wounded there. At the end of the war, he married his wife, Batya Rivka, and moved to Tashkent. Later, due to persecution by the KGB, he fled to Krasnoyarsk.
Over the years, he tried several times to escape from Russia, but failed time and time again. In 1965, the Lubavitcher Rebbe blessed him to come to the Holy Land, and in 1966, he arrived in Israel and settled in the Chabad settlement in Lod.
In 1936 he traveled to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who instructed him to stay in Crown Heights until he found a match for his daughter. Between 1937 and his assassination, he taught at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Ocean Parkway - and continued to help Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain in Russia.
In the month of Tishrei 5740, his daughter got married, and a few days later he was murdered.
Now that Miller has been officially acquitted, the murder of Rabbi Okunov - who risked his life to preserve Torah and mitzvot under Soviet oppression - remains unsolved.
