After almost 40 years in prison, a man was declared innocent by a North Carolina court after reviewing his case. Joseph Sledge walked out of a county prison a free man Friday after being convicted of double murder, looking forward to rebuilding his life.
Sledge is now 70 years old. Back in 1978, he was convicted for the deaths of Josephine and Aileen Davis, a mother and daughter from Elizabethtown in North Carolina. The Innocence Inquiry Commission, a state-run agency that investigates innocence claims by inmates, reviewed his case following an investigation done by the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, a nonprofit.
The eighth to be exonerated in North Carolina after a novel means of proving innocence was established in 2006, Sledge was released on grounds that DNA evidence from the crime scene did not match him. Hairs, fingerprints and DNA were collected back in 1976 but they were not processed properly. When these pieces of evidence were re-examined, results showed that none of them belonged to Sledge.
The commission unanimously voted in December 2014 to send Sledge's case to a three-judge panel for review and the panel, appointed by the Supreme Court of the state, ruled that Sledge had indeed been wrongfully convicted.
During the hearing, Jon David, District Attorney for Columbus County, apologized to Sledge, saying the system made a mistake. David was not, however, involved in the Sledge's original case.
One of the things that facilitated Sledge's conviction was testimony from Herman Baker, a jailhouse informant. Baker recanted his testimony in 2013, signing an affidavit saying he falsely accused Sledge in exchange for receiving leniency on his drug case at the time. He added that he was coached by investigators on what he should say back then.
Relatives of the Davises are not pleased with how the case progressed, with Josephine Davis' grandson Donald Hales writing to the commission that Sledge was a racist who believed white women were devils and that he deserved the criminal environment he was in.
Sledge, however, expressed no animosity towards the Davises and their family, saying he was sorry for their loss.
"I hope you get closure in this matter," he added.
According to state law, Sledge will be entitled to a payment totaling $750,000 for the 36 years he spent incarcerated.
Sledge's family members said they would be driving him to Savannah, Georgia where he would be moving in with a brother to start his life anew.
