Sixty-two-year-old who got wrongfully jailed for 32 years for
a crime he knew nothing about has told
Sky News that he will take entertain any form of anger against his false
accusers who made him to go through such a tough moment in his life time. Rather
he said he was always convinced that he would be vindicated someday.
Mr Wilson’s hope finally came into reality when he walked
out of prison as a freed man after his murder case was thrown out by a judge.
Mr Wilson was given a rousing welcome by family members
after he regained his freedom from Los Angeles Men’s Central jail.
During his media chat with Sky News, he said: "It
scared me," he said. "But it was a good moment, it was a happy moment
for me because I got a chance, not to just sit and talk to them, but I had the
chance to hug my loved ones and tell them that I love them."
Mr Wilson was earlier on wrongfully convicted of robbing and
murdering of 21-year-old Christopher Hanson while sleeping in a stationed car
with his girlfriend in south-central Los Angeles far back in 1984.
Despite all the difficulties he went through, Mr Wilson was
never deterred as he stood his ground to always maintain his innocence. In 2015,
student campaigners from the Project for the Innocent at the city’s Loyola Law
School took up his murder case
Later on, prosecutors conceded to the fact that several
mistakes had hindered Wilson from having a fair trial. Thus they are not
expected to carry out any more action against him.
The court heard that key evidence had been withheld from the
jury during the original trial including that which showed Mr Hanson's
girlfriend was not a credible witness.
Mr Wilson says he "doesn't have time" to be angry
at those who put him in jail. "If I do that, I'm taking good energy and
wasting it when I can be spending that energy on my family.
"I don't have time to waste being mad or thinking of
something negative. Life is too short."
He said the fight to prove his innocence kept him going
while he was inside.
"You just do it," he said. "You keep your
fight going. It's like anything else, if there is something that you want you
have to fight for it and you never give up.
"If you know you're innocent, you never give up.
"I'm glad I didn't give up."
Mr Wilson said being outside had come as a shock. "It
is all so space-age now. I haven't had movement like this, seen movement like
this, just 32 years of being confined."
He paid tribute to the law students for embarking on the
campaign that made his freedom a reality, saying he would give his life for
them.
A court will decide in May whether Mr Wilson should now be
ruled innocent of the crime. That would open the way for him to receive
compensation from the state of California.
His mother spent years trying to get attention for his case.
He will now be with her when she turns 97 in a few weeks' time.
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