Ricardo Aldape Guerra, after serving 14 years on death row in the 1982 shooting death of a Houston police officer, will not be retried.

Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. said Tuesday the case against the illegal Mexican immigrant was not strong enough after retired Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Frank Maloney decided to suppress testimony from six prosecution witnesses who identified Aldape as the shooter.

"We dismissed it," Holmes said. "Six of our identification witnesses were suppressed. There's not enough left to go through the exercise again. It's really regrettable."

Aldape Guerra, 34, has always maintained that an acquaintance, Roberto Carrasco Flores, shot Officer James D. Harris when the officer stopped them the night of July 13, 1982, in southeast Houston.

Holmes' request to dismiss the case, filed late Tuesday afternoon, was signed by state District Judge Werner Voigt.

Defense attorney Scott Atlas said, "I'm elated that the district attorney has seen fit to release Ricardo. Justice has been slow in coming, but it has finally arrived."

Aldape's parents, Francisca and Aureliano Aldape, were still in Houston after traveling from Monterrey to attend the Monday hearing before Maloney.

"His family is very grateful that this has finally come to a close, and they want to take him back to Mexico as quickly as possible," Atlas said.

Authorities were in the process Tuesday night of releasing Aldape Guerra from the Harris County Jail. He was expected to be turned over to immigration officials this morning.

Mexican Consul General Manuel Perez Cardenas said he hoped to have Aldape Guerra released into his custody today and transport him to Mexico.

"We are hoping to bypass the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which could keep him in custody for several more days," Perez Cardenas said.

"The people of Mexico, and the government will be very happy. We have always believed in the innocence of Aldape Guerra," the consul said.

"Wow! That's good news. There was so much proof he was innocent," said Maria Jimenez, local director of the American Friends Service Committee, who attended many of Aldape Guerra's hearings.

"He became the symbol of the injustices against the undocumented immigrant."

In 1994, a local federal judge said Houston police who conducted the original investigation were "merchants of chaos" bent on revenge and had intimidated witnesses.

In affirming that finding, Maloney said, "Police did intimidate witnesses by insisting they had seen more than they had seen . . . and threatening witnesses with punitive action."

Harris' widow, Pamela Rains, said nothing would return him to her and their two daughters, who were 4 years old and 20 months old when he was killed.

"I didn't want to go through another trial," Rains said. "I don't know the truth, because there was testimony that seemed to point to his innocence and testimony that showed he was guilty.

"At this point in my life and in my daughters' lives, we can really say this is finally over. God has been good to us and healed us."

Rains said she harbors no animosity toward Aldape Guerra and had even written to him to say she had forgiven him.

While thanking her for writing him, Aldape Guerra responded he could not accept her forgiveness because he did not shoot her husband.

"Ultimately, he will face the final judgment," Rains said. "Whether he was the triggerman or not, he was here illegally to start with. And he was with the wrong people at the wrong time.

"I hope he now realizes that crime doesn't pay. But as a mother, I am happy for his mother that she is getting her son back."

Aldape Guerra, 20 at the time of the shooting, has maintained that Carrasco pulled a 9mm pistol and shot Harris. Carrasco died later that night in a shootout with police.

The bullets that killed Harris and a bystander were determined to have been fired from the 9mm pistol found under Carrasco's body immediately after the shootout.

Harris' .357-caliber revolver was found tucked in Carrasco's pants, and additional ammunition for the 9mm pistol was found in a pouch attached to Carrasco's belt.

Aldape Guerra was caught that night hiding nearby with a .45-caliber pistol he said he had bought from Carrasco.

Prosecutors argued that Aldape Guerra had switched the guns when he and Carrasco fled the shooting scene. Aldape Guerra was sentenced to die by injection.

In 1994, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ordered a new trial after determining that police had intimidated witnesses into accusing Aldape Guerra of the shooting and that prosecutors had manipulated evidence.

In February, defense attorneys asked Maloney to throw out the 1982 indictment, free Aldape Guerra and bar the state from retrying the case. Although Maloney refused to throw out the case, he suppressed key testimony by the six state witnesses.

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Chronology of Aldape Guerra case

July 13, 1982 - Fatal shootings of Officer James D. Harris and suspect Roberto Carrasco Flores; Ricardo Aldape Guerra arrested.

Aug. 30, 1982 - Jury selection begins.

Oct. 4, 1982 - Trial begins.

Oct. 12-14, 1982 - Jury returns guilty verdict, sentences Aldape Guerra to death.

Oct. 26, 1982 - Hearing seeks a new trial; request denied.

May 4, 1988 - Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upholds Aldape Guerra's conviction.

July 3 , 1989 - U.S. Supreme Court refuses to consider Aldape Guerra's appeal.

May 9, 1992 - Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari appeals to Gov. Ann Richards to grant clemency to Aldape Guerra.

January 1993 - Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upholds trial court, without making any findings of fact, that no previously unresolved issues of fact were material to Aldape Guerra's confinement and denies relief.

Nov. 15, 1993 - U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt holds evidentiary hearing on Aldape Guerra's claims that police and prosecutors engaged in misconduct.

Nov. 15, 1994 - Hoyt orders a new trial for Aldape Guerra.

Oct. 18, 1996 - Hoyt rules that Aldape Guerra receive a new trial Dec. 2 or be released. He found that police intimidated witnesses into identifying Aldape Guerra as the murderer. The new trial is indefinitely postponed due to a shortage of space for jury selection.

Feb. 17, 1997 - An evidentiary hearing begins in which evidence is presented contradicting prosecution claims that Aldape Guerra murdered Harris and alleging police misconduct tainted witness testimony. A witness identifies Aldape Guerra as Harris' killer.

April 14 - Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Frank Maloney throws out key testimony in Aldape Guerra's 1982 trial.

April 15 - Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. announces he would not retry Aldape Guerra, saying the exclusion of testimony by Maloney makes it impossible to mount a prosecution.