He said he didn't think he wrote the phone number on the matchbook but also said that it could be his handwriting. Kahn, a smoker, suggested that he could have been carrying the matchbook while shopping downtown and dropped it without realizing it, leaving it for someone else to pick up. He did not recall giving it to Gantt.
Smith, 49, is serving his life sentence at Salinas Valley State Prison. In a 2007 interview, he told district attorney's investigators that he was innocent.
His attorney, Gigi Gordon, is preparing to file legal papers seeking his release.
"Without the matchbook, [prosecutors] never could have convicted either of them," Gordon said. "No one's ever got to the truth of the matchbook. And now, so much dirt and dust has gone by that there's no way to get there."
Meanwhile, Gantt, 63, continues to insist that he is innocent and has filed a lawsuit against the police and prosecutors, accusing them of using false testimony to win a conviction.
"The only honest thing was the matchbook," he said, "and they took that honest thing and used it against me."
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jack.leonard@latimes.com
