New York.– Fernando Bermudez has been behind bars since 1991. Now there are discussions about a possible plea deal, perhaps a guilty plea to Manslaughter 2 for time served. The New York County District Attorney's office told the press that there is no offer.

But with a new hearing in the case set for next week, one family has hope. Frank Bermudez and his wife, Daniella, came to the United States from the Dominican Republic for a new life. For 18 years they have fought for freedom for their son Fernando.

"Very painful, we've suffered a lot," Daniella says. "Suffered a lot." On August 4, 1991, there was a brawl outside the Marc Ballroom in Union Square, and suddenly Raymond Blount, of Queens, was shot dead.

Five witnesses pointed to Fernando Bermudez. The verdict: guilty; the sentence: 23 years to life. But from prison Bermudez, now 40, told a different story. "There was a lot of coercion, a lot of fabrication, a lot of perjury involved," he says.

Ephraim Lopez was the prosecutor's star witness. He identified Bermudez, but called him by a different name, saying he was known as "Wool" or "Wool Lou" from 92nd Street.

Prosecutors now acknowledge none of that was true. Investigators never bothered to check 92nd Street to see if there in fact was someone named Wool Lou. Wool Lou says he was living in Kentucky at the time of the brawl and shooting.