DNA Exonerates Man Who Served Nearly 40 Years For Murder

Joseph Sledge, 70, addresses members of the media after being released from jail in Columbus County, N.C., on Friday. He served nearly four decades behind bars for two slayings he didn't commit. Jonathan Drew/AP hide caption

Joseph Sledge, 70, addresses members of the media after being released from jail in Columbus County, N.C., on Friday. He served nearly four decades behind bars for two slayings he didn't commit.

Joseph Sledge is a free man after 37 years in prison following Friday's decision by a judicial panel in North Carolina to overturn his 1976 conviction in the stabbing deaths of an elderly mother and her daughter.

The Associated Press says DNA evidence had helped to exonerate Sledge, now 70, whose case was referred last month to the three-judge panel by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

According to the AP:

"The expert said none of the evidence collected in the case hair, DNA and fingerprints belonged to Sledge. A key jailhouse informant had also recanted his story, saying authorities promised him leniency in his own case for his trial testimony against Sledge.

"A district attorney who was not originally involved apologized to Sledge and promised to reopen the investigation.

" 'The system has made a mistake,' district attorney Jon David said."

David, who was not the original prosecutor, pledged to reopen the investigation and apologized to Sledge, according to Raleigh-based WRAL:

" 'There's nothing worse for a prosecutor than convicting an innocent person,' he said.

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DNA Exonerates Man Who Served Nearly 40 Years For Murder