Darryl Howard, gets a hug from his wife while preparing to leave the detention center.

DURHAM, N.C. — A North Carolina man was freed after 21 years in prison for a double-murder a judge ruled he likely didn’t commit, but questions linger about the prosecutor who put him behind bars — the former district attorney already disbarred for lying and misconduct in the Duke University lacrosse rape case.

The Durham district attorney’s office on Wednesday opted against fighting Darryl Howard’s release based on improved DNA evidence after it became clear prosecutors would have to defend Mike Nifong’s handling of the case.

Assistant District Attorney Stormy Ellis initially said prosecutors wanted to appeal Judge Orlando Hudson’s decision to throw out Howard’s convictions. The hearing then was scheduled to turn to Howard’s attorneys showing what they said was misconduct by police and prosecutors that helped win his 1995 conviction. But after lunch, Ellis said prosecutors had changed their minds. That meant Nifong did not have to take the stand and cleared the way for Howard to be freed.

Howard, who had been serving an 80-year sentence, was convicted of the 1991 strangling and sexual assault of a woman and her daughter But DNA evidence shows Howard did not rape the women, and no other physical evidence connected him to the crime. Hudson said Wednesday that evidence would have created a reasonable doubt for jurors.

Hudson said prosecutors could retry Howard, who was convicted based heavily on the testimony of witnesses at the Durham public housing project where the killings occurred, or drop the case.

Defense attorney Barry Scheck said he thought it was unlikely that prosecutors would retry Howard because of the contradictory evidence offered at Howard’s original trial, signs of misconduct by prosecutors and police and lack of evidence.