Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Friday that four men should be released from prison because their drug convictions were based on the work of Atlanta cops who have admitted lying to make cases, including one that left a 92-year-old woman dead in a botched raid.

It will be up to the judges in each case to decide if the prisoners go free.

"It's important to us that no one is incarcerated unnecessarily," Howard said in an interview.

Howard said he was only asking, for now, that the sentences be commuted to time served in the four cases. Ultimately, Howard may move to have the convictions erased against Mingus Williams, Kerry Adams, Oliver Lester and Travis Brice, depending on what investigators learn as they examine the cases.

"If it's determined that those folks were arrested illegally, we will ask that their cases be expunged," Howard said.

At the same time, prosecutors dropped 41 pending cases, at least temporarily.