TN - Innocent man has record wiped clean after 31 years in prison

Original Article

01/27/2014

By Dennis Ferrier

NASHVILLE (WSMV) - An innocent man imprisoned for 31 years, who has been trying to get his record cleared since he was released four years ago, finally got his day in court Monday and is now a man without a criminal record.

_____ had been falsely accused of rape and burglary in 1977 in Memphis.

DNA evidence showed he was never on the scene and had nothing to do with the crime, and 31 years into the sentence, the district attorney and judge released him from custody.

But getting his record wiped clean had been a much more difficult struggle.

The Memphis district attorney had _____'s record expunged on Monday.

_____ and his wife, _____, have been waiting for this day for years. It was such big news that people from Immanuel Baptist Church in Lebanon left work just to come and congratulate him.

"It was done in 15 seconds. Thirty-five years of wrongfully labeling this man was undone in 15 seconds. There really is a sermon there. It was very emotional. It's like a family member's been freed," said the Rev. John Hunn of Immanuel Baptist Church.

_____ attends Bible study five days a week and can now go on a mission trip with Immanuel Baptist Church that before he could only dream about.

Plus, he can now vote again.

"He has had a hard life," _____ said. "He just went through everything and then he couldn't get a job. My children think there is nothing like him. They call him 'Pops.' I never thought I'd meet anybody like him. He is just different. I like to think God saved him just for me."

_____ first walked into Immanuel Baptist Church on a Wednesday night, and things really changed after that. Hunn got him a job at Lifeway Christian Resources, everyone learned his story and witnessed his grace and, now, they see his triumph.

"You got to walk and put God in your heart. You put love in your heart, God can turn bad into good," _____ said.