First day of freedom for Dwayne Dail

In his first full day as a free man,

Dwayne Allen Dail

spent time with family and talked with reporters about the 18 years he spent behind bars for a 1987 North Carolina rape he didn’t commit. He became the 207th person exonerated by DNA testing on Tuesday after a judge dismissed the charges against him. Evidence from his case believed for years to be destroyed was located recently in a closet at the Goldsboro, N.C. police department. Testing on the evidence proved another man had committed the attack on a 12-year-old girl for which Dail was serving life in prison.

"I never thought I could be convicted, I thought if you didn’t do anything, then you have nothing to worry about," Dail told reporters yesterday.

Watch a video interview with Dail and his son here

. (WRAL, 08/30/2007)

And the prosecutor in the case said yesterday "it was every prosecutor's nightmare that you somehow participated in putting an innocent man in jail."

Read the full story here

. (WRAL, 08/29/07)

More media coverage of the case:



Editorial: The wrong man…

(The News & Observer, 08/30/2007)