A man has been freed from death row after 29 years, after new DNA evidence exonerated him of the crime he was originally accused of committing.
According to a statement by the Innocence Project, Paul Hildwin was originally sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Vronzettie Cox. He spent a total of 35 years incarcerated for the crime, surviving three separate attempts by the state to execute him, and a further four bouts of cancer, before his innocence was finally proven in court.
Watch Paul walk free after 29 years on death row:Hildwin was originally found guilty after Cox's stolen property was found in his possession. He told investigators that he'd hitched a ride with the victim and her boyfriend earlier and, had stolen from them, but had neither assaulted nor murdered Cox.
He was charged with homicide, and at his trial serology expert alleged that bodily fluids found on two pieces of crime scene evidence matched Hildwin. However, extensive testing and a court-ordered search of the national DNA database proved that Cox's boyfriend was the true culprit all along.
Commenting on the case, Innocence Project Senior Litigation Counsel Nina Morrison stated: "Paul Hildwin’s unwavering determination to one day walk free enabled him to survive three and a half decades behind bars."
Morrison added: "It is outrageous that Paul was held in jail for five more years after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the new DNA would likely lead to his acquittal. And while we hoped that he would be fully exonerated, we are thrilled that Paul will not spend another day behind bars or face another death penalty trial."
The Innocence Project later uploaded a video of Paul enjoying one of the small pleasures that incarceration had denied him for so long: walking on the grass in his bare feet.
