Enjoying the warmth of sun on his face - man is freed from prison after nearly 25 years following wrongful conviction for wife's murder
- 'Thank God this wasn't a capital case' says relieved former prisoner
- New DNA evidence showed that another man was responsible for brutal killing
- Elderly parents hug their son following judge's decision to grant freedom
- 57-year-old could be eligible for $2 million compensation payout
The relief is clearly etched across Michael Morton's face as he enjoys his first rays of sunlight as a free man.
The 57-year-old was walking from the Williamson County courthouse in Taylor, Texas, on Tuesday after a judge freed him from the life sentence he had been serving after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife Christine.
The former grocery store employee was convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life in prison in August 1986.
Freedom: Michael Morton, right, lifts his face to the sun as he leaves the Williamson County courthouse as a free man for the first time in nearly 25 years
However, thanks to the New York-based Innocence Project, new DNA evidence came to light which showed that another man was responsible.
Mr Morton's release from prison came on the same day that Obie Anthony was freed from the Twin Towers jail in Los Angeles.
The 37-year-old had served 17 years of a life sentence after being wrongfully convicted of the murder of Felipe Gonzales outside a south Los Angeles brothel.
Happy family: Michael Morton, centre, embraces his parents, Bill and Pat Morton, after he was freed from prison.
After District Judge Sid Harle told Mr Morton that he was a free man, he hugged each of his defence attorneys before hugging his parents.
Addressing reporters moments later, Mr Morton struggled to hold back tears.
'I thank God this wasn't a capital case,' he said. 'That I only had life because it gave these saints here at the Innocence Projects time to do this,' he said.
'Colours seem real bright to me now. Women are real good looking,' he said with a smile.
Emotional: Michael Morton, left, looks on during a news conference at the Williamson County courthouse on Tuesday. His mother and father are pictured by his side.
Asked if he ever thought he would be released, Mr Morton replied, 'I prayed for it, and I had faith it would arise.'
He then headed to a celebratory dinner with his family and lawyers.
Prosecutors had claimed Mr Morton killed his wife in a fit of rage after she wouldn't have sex with him following a dinner celebrating his 32nd birthday.
She was found dead at their home having been beaten with a blunt wooden object which was never found.
Morton had always maintained that he had left his wife and their three-year-old son to head to work early on the morning of the slaying, and throughout his time in prison said that an intruder must have killed her.
Motherly love: Pat Morton squeezes her son Michael on the shoulder as they leave the courthouse where a judge freed him from prison.
This summer, using techniques that weren't available during his 1987 trial, authorities detected Christine Morton's DNA on a bloody bandana discovered near the Morton home soon after her death, along with that of a convicted felon whose name has not been released.
Mr Morton was helped by the Innocence Project, which specialises in using DNA testing to overturn wrongful convictions.
Judge Harle signed an agreement on Monday recommending that Morton's conviction be overturned.
Happier times: Michael Morton, left, with his three-year-old son and wife Christine before her death
It was passed on to the state Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final ruling that could make Mr Morton eligible for state compensation of $80,000 for every year that he was wrongfully imprisoned - which would be around $2 million in total.
Upon releasing Mr Morton, Judge Harle said: 'You do have my sympathies. You have my apologies. We do not have a perfect system of justice, but we have the best system of justice in the world.'
Good work: The legal team for Michael Morton, left to right, John Raley, Nina Morrison, Gerald Goldstein and Barry Scheck speak to the media after it was announced that Mr Morton would freed from prison after 25 years.
Mr Morton is not allowed to leave Texas until the Court of Criminal Appeals rules. This process could take up to three months.
His defence attorney, John Raley, said his client was told a few years ago that if he showed remorse for the crime, he would probably have been paroled.
'I don't know what I would respond with after the system had let me down the way it had him and I'd been in prison 23, 24 years,' Mr Raley said.
'But this man told them, "All I have left is my actual innocence. And if I have to spend the rest of my life in prison I'm not giving that up."'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045495/Michael-Morton-wrongfully-convicted-wifes-murder-freed-prison.html#ixzz2mslxyJ5T
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