An appeals court has thrown out the conviction of a Troy man for a 2018 shooting in Albany.

Jeffrey Walker was found guilty of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal use of a firearm. He was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for the Oct. 7, 2018, shooting outside a bar near Lark Street in Albany.

The incident had stemmed from a dispute in which the victim had a brief conversation with a person who he identified as a gang member. The person had pressed the victim to provide financial assistance to the gang member’s cousin.

The victim declined. He encounters the same group of people later that night and attempts to speak with him. At that point, the group including Walker surrounds the victim, who gets struck in the head with a heavy object. The victim breaks free and runs and then is shot in the back, according to the background of the case.

The victim told police that he saw another person try to pass a gun to Walker. When he turns around to look, Walker did not have the gun.

Walker had appealed the conviction, claiming that he was just a bystander to the incident and video evidence didn’t prove he was the shooter.

A panel of judges with the Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, sided with his argument. They wrote that the victim only saw another person try to pass a gun to Walker, but “he never saw defendant with the gun either immediately before or after the shooting, a span of only a few seconds at most.”

“Considering the foregoing together with the absence of any evidence that defendant was even aware that a gun was present or was being offered to him, it cannot be concluded without resort to improper speculation that defendant personally fired the gun,” the justices wrote.

The court reversed the conviction and dismissed the entire indictment.

The Times Union first reported the story.