FIRST OFF . . .

Randall Dale Adams, who was imprisoned for 12 years for the slaying of a police officer but whose guilt was questioned in the film “The Thin Blue Line,” was ordered released Monday by a judge in Dallas. He was to be released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond, and was expected to be freed later in the day. Adams served 12 years in a Texas prison for the 1976 slaying of Dallas police Officer Robert Wood. Originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to life in 1980, but his conviction was unanimously overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on March 1. The appeals court reviewed the case on the recommendation of state District Judge Larry Baraka of Dallas, who said after a hearing in December that Adams did not receive a fair trial. The Dallas County district attorney has not made a decision whether to retry Adams. His case was resurrected with the help of New York film maker Errol Morris, whose documentary “The Thin Blue Line” strongly suggested the slaying was committed by the prosecution’s chief witness, David Harris. Harris, who is on Death Row for another slaying, was not charged in the shooting of Wood.