Man convicted in deadly US fire enters plea
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press
Apr 2, 2013 1:05 PM CDT
FILE - In a Dec. 20, 1970 file photo Tucson, Ariz., firefighters apply a steady stream of water during the Pioneer International Hotel fire , that resulted in 29 deaths. Louis Cuen Taylor who has spent more than four decades in prison for the hotel fire is expected to be released Tuesday, April...   (Associated Press)

A man whose murder conviction in a 1970 Arizona hotel fire that killed 29 people was called into question has entered a plea, clearing the way for his freedom.

The plea deal Tuesday marks a stunning reversal for an inmate who was just 16 years old when he was arrested in the fire. Louis Taylor has been behind bars ever since and will leave prison at the age of 59.

Taylor has since spent more than four decades in prison, consistently maintaining his innocence after being sentenced to 28 consecutive life terms in the December 1970 fire at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson.

Taylor, who is black, contends he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury after he says police failed to investigate other suspects.