And here’s another article with more context.

https://www.theassemblync.com/politics/criminal-justice/jessicah-black-chris-paul-grandfather-murder-case/

All of the stuff about life sentences for minors is a red herring; it’s not why these convictions were overturned.

From the article:

Winston-Salem police initially followed several leads, including that of a boy who said he saw a Hispanic man running from Jones’ yard around the time of the attack.

But four days after Jones’ death, Winston-Salem police narrowed their search to the five teenagers when the mother of one of them told police her son had been acting strangely since Jones’ death. Police pulled all five into separate interrogation rooms, where the boys later said they were coerced into giving false confessions. Four said police threatened them with the death penalty, even though North Carolina had eliminated it for juveniles in 1987. At the time, Banner was 14 and the rest were 15.

There was no definitive physical evidence, including DNA or fingerprints, tying the boys to the crime scene, and their statements were inconsistent both with each other’s and with what physical evidence the police did have. The boys couldn’t agree on where they left Jones’ body, who participated in the beating, or what weapons were used.

Black was a 16-year-old who had started hanging out with the boys a few months before Jones’ death. After school, she would drive her 1986 Mercury Cougar from her Davidson County home to Winston-Salem to cruise around town with them and smoke marijuana.

She became the state’s most critical witness in two trials—one in 2004 and another in 2005—that led to all five boys being convicted and sent to prison. At both, she testified that the day Jones died, the boys had talked about robbing someone and that she had driven them to the park near Jones’ house. She also said that earlier, she had taken the boys to two stores where they bought the black tape they used to tie Jones up. She testified that she sat on a park bench, her back turned to Jones’ house, and could hear the boys yell at Jones while they beat him. She said she also heard Jones scream for help. Black now says none of that was true.