Wrongly Convicted Man Freed With Help of Bay Area Law Students
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- An Alabama man sentenced to life in prison without parole eight years ago for a crime he didn’t commit was recently freed, with the help of some Bay Area law students.
Walter Rhone Jr. was convicted in 1999 of capital murder in connection with a drive-by shooting. Once in prison he began to study law and fight back.
"I just knew that I wanted to be with my sons and I knew that I wasn't going to lay down and give up for something I didn't do. I knew I just had to fight for my own life," Rhone told KCBS.
His case caught the attention of law students at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, who originally took the case because of procedural issues that affected inmates' ability to pursue post-conviction appeals. They soon found there was more to Rhone’s case than met the eye.
"We started looking into his case and it wasn't until then that we realized not only was this guy innocent, but there was outrageous misconduct at every stage of his trial," said Boalt Death Penalty Associate Director Ty Alper.
Eventually, Alper, the Boalt Hall students and the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta were able to get Rhone a new trial. He was released from prison in February and now plans to pursue a career as a paralegal so he can help other wrongly convicted inmates.
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Hear the full interview with Alper and Rhone
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