A judge threw out a high-profile murder case Monday against Shrien Dewani, who was accused of killing his wife while they were on their honeymoon in South Africa.
Judge Jeanette Traverso called the state's case "weak" and said evidence fell "far below" the standard needed for conviction.
It took years for prosecutors to bring him to trial over the killing of his wife, Anni.
Dewani, 34, was accused of hiring hit men to kill her in Cape Town in November 2010.
He has repeatedly denied orchestrating the killing, pleading not guilty at the start of the trial in October.
South African authorities were locked in a three-year court battle to get Dewani extradited from the UK to face trial.
But after the prosecution put forward its witnesses, the defense sought to have the charges dropped, citing a lack of evidence.
Differences seen in witnesses' accounts
Traverso found there was no reasonable chance a court would convict Dewani unless he took the stand and incriminated himself, CNN legal analyst Kelly Phelps said Monday.
Other witnesses contradicted each other and could not be taken at face value because they were accomplices to the killing of Anni Dewani, Phelps explained. She said it was likely that the judge's decision would be the end of the case, because the prosecution "can only appeal if the judge erred on a matter of law."
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