London: A 60-yr-old man who spent nearly 30 years in jail serving for crimes he did not commit was finally released from a Virginia correctional facility.
According to The Independent, Keith Allen Harward, 60, freed on Friday afternoon. After release he thanked his lawyers, whom he called “heroes,” and said that his parents could not see him walk free. “That’s the worst part about this, is my parents. It killed them. It devastated them,” said Mr Harward, holding back tears. He added that he was not allowed to attend their funeral because of the sentence. “Somebody needs to pay for this.”
Mr Harward was wrongfully convicted of murdering Jesse Perron and raping his wife near a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia,in 1982, where he was stationed as a sailor. A shipyard guard testified that he witnessed Mr Harward enter the premises covered in blood. The female victim, however, never identified him as her attacker, according to the AP.
