Murder charge dropped against Jose Canas

After two cases that prosecutors couldn't get a guilty verdict on, the murder charge against Jose Canas was dropped on Thursday.

Detectives believe he's the gunman who shot and killed a Kerman farmer after he pulled up to his property to see a truck being stripped.

Canas thanked his attorney Thursday when he got to court and found out the homicide charge against him would be dropped. He's spent the past four and a half years in jail.

"When he found out, very happy and expected. So, thank God it's over, said Ralph Torres, Canas' attorney.

Deputy District Attorney William Lacy asked the case be dismissed without prejudice- meaning that if new or additional evidence becomes available the case can be re-filed.

There's no statute of limitations on murder. Lacy declined to comment after the hearing.

Torres said he never expected a second trial, especially since much of the case against his client hinged on statements taken from mostly the other witnesses who were also accomplices.

"So what we had was basically the suspects blaming each other. And so when you have something like that, you have to really look at the physical evidence, the scientific evidence and common sense," he said.