Prosecutors move to vacate "unjust" convictions of 3 men who confessed as teens to horrific 1995 murder of NYC subway clerk

Prosecutors say they are moving to vacate the "unjust" convictions of three men who spent decades in prison for one of the most horrifying crimes of New York's violent 1990s - the killing of a clerk who was set on fire in a subway toll booth.

Vincent Ellerbe, James Irons and Thomas Malik confessed to and were convicted of murdering token seller Harry Kaufman in 1995. The case resounded from New York to Washington to Hollywood, after parallels were drawn between the deadly arson and a scene in the movie "Money Train."

But Brooklyn prosecutors now plan to join defense lawyers in asking a judge Friday to dismiss all three men's convictions. The confessions conflicted with evidence at the scene and with each other, and witness identifications were problematic, prosecutors say. Some of the men have long said they were coerced into confessing in the case, which had a lead detective who later was repeatedly accused of forcing confessions and framing suspects.