Leighton Hay is going home to family.

Something you likely do all the time.

Something the 31-year old Mississauga man has not been able to do since his conviction in the 2002 killing of 51-year old Colin Moore, a well-known member of Toronto’s Guyanese community.

The Crown told a Toronto court this morning it is no longer in the ”public’s interest” to continue prosecuting Hay, whose conviction was set aside last year by the Supreme Court.

With that he left the prisoner’s box with an apology from the judge and joined his family – a free man.

The Crown argued at trial he had shaved his head to escape recognition after the shooting.

But testing on hair found in his apartment determined it was facial, not from the head.

The Crown then said the hair evidence was irrelevant because it could not help determine when Hay cut his hair.

He’d always maintained he was home sleeping the night of the murder.

His lawyer, James Lockyear, of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, said ”This is a miscarriage of justice of the highest order.”