ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A man who shot and killed a New York state trooper more than 40 years ago is free on parole after a police union's efforts to keep him in prison failed.

Seventy-four-year-old John Ruzas was released Monday from Fishkill Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley. Sentenced to 25 years to life for killing Trooper Emerson Dillon, he was granted parole last month after numerous parole rejections.