Innocent Michigan Man Free After Over Three Decades in Prison

I could not even imagine the horror of being in jail for a crime I did not commit, and according to innocenceproject.com, it's estimated that between 2.3 percent and 5 percent of all U.S. prisoners are not guilty. The amount of people in jail now is staggering. Over two million Americans are currently in jail. The troubling part is about 120,000 people are incarcerated because of wrongful convictions.

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Hard Work Pays Off For Innocent Man

Thank goodness for the Michigan Conviction Integrity Unit. They investigate claims of wrongful convictions in our great state of Michigan. All that hard work is paying off with the unit’s very first exoneration according to fox47news.com. Gilbert Poole Jr. spent the last three decades behind bars for murder. This innocent man was sent to jail in 1989 because of a bite mark found on a murder victim.

"I didn’t think I was going to have this much support and for years I didn’t. But thank God he sent these guardian angels down here to work and get me out," Poole said.

This is a First For the Wrongful Conviction Project

I am so incredibly happy for this man. Although it is a shame he lost a good part of his life, he did get the rest of it back. I am already a fan of this program that freed him. It's the first exoneration to come out of the state Conviction Integrity Unit since it started, and Attorney General Dana Nessel is very happy about it.

"It is the most incredible feeling in the world to know that you have been able to deliver even just a little bit of justice to someone who has been denied justice for so many years," Nessel said.

In 2020 about 20 people were set free in Michigan and 84 in the United States after new evidence appeared. I wish Gilbert much, much happiness for the rest of his life.