Man released from prison after 28 years for murder he did not commit

‘I can’t hold no grudge, life’s too short’

A man freed from prison after serving 28 years for a murder he did not commit said he would not hold any grudges.

Corey Atchison, 48, from Oklahoma, was sentenced to life behind bars in 1991 for the fatal shooting of James Lane in Tulsa in 1990, during what police believed was a gang-related attempted robbery.

But after spending almost three decades locked up, the grandfather was finally released on Tuesday by a judge who said she believed a key prosecution witness was coerced into falsely identifying him.

Speaking to television cameras as he stood with his arm around his young grandson, Mr Atchison said: “I can’t hold no grudge, life’s too short.

“I’ve got some time with this little guy to make him into a man.”

He added that he did not know what he wanted to do now because his “goal all these years was just to be free”.

Mr Atchison was arrested just three months before his daughter was born and convicted by a jury when he was 20-years-old.

His mother, Ruth Scott, said she always knew her son was innocent.

“I knew he didn’t do it, I knew he didn’t do it when it happened,” she told Associated Press.

It is understood prosecutors plan to appeal the ruling.