MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man who was freed after serving five years in prison for attempted murder says he is “ecstatic” that prosecutors have dropped the charges.

Javon Davis, 32, was serving a 28-year sentence. Earlier this month a judge ordered a new trial for Davis because he had not been effectively represented by his attorneys. Hennepin County prosecutors on Wednesday dismissed the charges.

Davis was convicted of shooting two men outside Target Field in Minneapolis on April 2014. Davis maintained his innocence and contacted the Innocence Project of Minnesota, an organization of attorneys who work to exonerate the wrongfully convicted.

“I’m ecstatic and so thankful to the whole Innocence Project (of Minnesota),” Davis told the Star Tribune. “I am so happy they believed in me. They saved my life.”

Hennepin District Judge Paul Scoggin threw out Davis’ conviction, criticizing the defense put on by Davis’ trial attorney. The judge wrote that if Davis had received effective representation, “it is difficult to imagine the case thus submitted to the jury leading to guilty verdicts.”

In a one-sentence legal filing, Assistant County Attorney Sean Cahill withdrew the charges “in the interest of justice.” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman declined to comment.