"He Was in Prison My Whole Life": After 19 Years in Prison for Crime He Did Not Do, Black Man Finally Freed

"He Was in Prison My Whole Life": After 19 Years in Prison for Crime He Did Not Do, Black Man Finally Freed

  • A black man who was wrongly convicted of a murder he did not commit has finally been freed
  • Sheldon Thomas, who is now going to enjoy freedom after so many years in prison, said he had forgiven the police who arrested him
  • The black man was 26 when he was convicted and is now 35 years old after spending 19 years in jail

The story of Sheldon Thomas, who was wrongly convicted for a crime he knew nothing about, has surfaced online after he was cleared of all charges, CNN reports.

Thomas was finally declared free of all charges on March 9 after a judge granted the request of a District Attorney to release the black man.

Thomas Sheldon finally freed from prison
Thomas Sheldon is finally free from prison. Photo credit: @trtworld Source: Instagram
Source: UGC

How Sheldon Thomas was Arrested and Convicted

Thomas was arrested in relation to the drive-by shooting of 14-year-old Anderson Barcy in 2004. The incident took place in Brooklyn.

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He was later convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Now that Thomas is free, TRT World reported that the killer is yet to be found.

The black man, in his benevolence, said that he had forgiven everyone involved in his arrest, including the police and the witnesses.

Social media users react to the story

@blue_star_king reacted:

"He was in prison my whole life. This racism must end jailing innocent people who will compensate him for those lost years."

@musings_of_a_may_born wrote:

"Amazing . After serving 19 years out of 25 years of his sentence he is freed. He should be compensated with good amount of money and be given proper permanent job . Shame on the police and judiciary system."

@tugberkbattal also wrote:

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"The man did the most humble kind hearted thing every human being aspire to be and this comment section is looking for vengeance. To be able to forgive such a thing requires some enlightenment we all should look for . It doesn't matter if the people who convicted them deserve it or not . The man finally found peace."

@thethingabout.mattharryniko also reacted:

"I hope they pay him very high for the wasted 19 years of his life."

@itswbm said:

"This is why I hate this system what will he do with their soft talks they just waste his half life already.shame on this system."

@iamchia666 also said:

"He is nice man and heart of a gold.. god bless you."

Man Released After Serving 28 Years

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a man wrongly convicted and jailed for nearly 30 years has walked free after being found innocent.

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Johnson Lamar, 50, locked up in prison since 1994, finally regained his freedom in 2023 after the case was revisited.

Johnson was convicted for the murder of Marcus Boyd, who was shot dead by two masked men in St Louis, Missouri, BBC reported.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Basit Jamiu avatar

Basit Jamiu (Editor) Basit Jamiu is a journalist with more than five years of experience. He is a current affairs and politics editor at Legit.ng. He holds a bachelor's degree from Ekiti State University (2018). Basit previously worked as a staff writer at Ikeja Bird (2022), Associate Editor at Prime Progress (2022), and Staff Writer at The Movee (2018). He is a 2024 Open Climate Fellow (West Africa), 2023 MTN Media Fellow, OCRP Fellow at ICIR, and Accountability Fellow at CJID. Email: basit.jamiu@corp.legit.ng.