Ranta, 58, was freed Thursday after serving 23 years for a murder he did not commit — and Friday night was admitted to a New York hospital in the grip of a crushing heart attack, lawyer Pierre Sussman told the Daily News. “The toll that his years in prison have taken on David is great,” added Mr. Sussman, who took up Mr. Ranta’s case after it appeared that his chances at freedom had disappeared. Ranta will be kept in the hospital for further procedures after doctors manage to clear blockages from his arteries, according to Sussman. Right now, I feel like I’m under water, swimming.” 
 
 On Friday night, Mr. Ranta felt pain in his back and shoulders, and became very hot, Mr. Sussman said.  On his second day of freedom after serving 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, David Ranta suffered a serious heart attack Friday night, his lawyer said. Ranta was sentenced to 37 years to life in 1991 for the killing of beloved Brooklyn Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, who was shot in the forehead during a botched diamond robbery in Williamsburg. His case was reopened by the district attorney’s conviction integrity unit in 2012 after a meeting at which prosecutors asked defense attorneys to notify them of questionable cases. The district attorney found serious problems, especially with tactics used by lead Detective Louis Scarcella, who stands by his investigation.
– A man cleared of murder charges after 23 years in prison rejoined his family, ate a steak dinner, and had a heart attack, the Daily News reports. David Ranta, 58, is in stable condition in a New York hospital after doctors began procedures to clear up his arteries. Ranta was released Thursday, once a review of his case strongly suggested police had framed him in the high-profile murder of a rabbi. "The toll that his years in prison have taken on David is great," his lawyer told the New York Times.