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A man who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit has been released after police found his lookalike.

Richard Anthony Jones from Kansas City, Kansas, was set free on Thursday because a judge declared there was no longer sufficient evidence to convict him.

Jones had been jailed for armed robbery in 1999 based on an eyewitness account. During a new hearing into his case, witnesses who testified against him said they couldn't tell Jones from 'Ricky',  whose resemblance to the freed man is uncanny and who eerily shares his first name. 

The judge ordered Jones's release because there was no physical, DNA or fingerprint evidence that tied him to the crime. What's more, Jones lived on the other side of Kansas while his lookalike lived in the same area the incident occurred.