I was wrongly jailed for 32yrs.. but life’s too short to be angry
Convicted for murder he says he didn’t do
I prayed for what I thought was just impossible – his release MARGIE DAVIS MUM OF ANDREW WILSON
A MAN freed after 32 years behind bars for a crime he insists he did not commit says he “doesn’t have time” to be angry.
Andrew Wilson has been reunited with his family – and met some, born since he was jailed, for the first time.
In 1984 he was convicted of robbing and fatally stabbing Christopher Hanson, 21, but always maintained his innocence.
Since he was jailed, his mum Margie Davis has written to anyone with the power to right the wrong, but, at 96-years-old, she thought she would never live to see her son freed.
But on Wednesday, Judge Laura Priver ruled Wilson’s conviction was so shaky it had to be thrown out and that he was to be freed “as soon as possible”.
Now aged 62, Wilson has walked free from Men’s Central Jail, in Los Angeles, California.
Speaking about his incarceration, he said he is not angry at those who put him in jail or who wrongly accused him.
He said: “If I do that, I’m taking good energy and wasting it when I can be spending that energy on my family. I don’t have time to waste being mad or thinking of something negative. “Life is too short. “I’m happy that I’m at the end of it now. My family’s all right. I’m all right.”
The breakthrough came when student campaigners from the Project for the Innocent at the city’s Loyola Law School took up his case in 2015. Prosecutors admitted a series of errors had prevented a fair trial.
The court heard key evidence had been withheld from the jury during the trial, including that showing Hanson’s girlfriend was not a credible witness.
Praising the Project for the Innocent, Wilson said:
“I never gave up and by the grace of God, I was put in contact with Loyola Law School and, from day one, they believed in me.”
Following his release on Thursday, Margie, said: “I know all about how he was framed. I prayed for what I thought was impossible – his release.”
Wilson could receive $1.6million (£1.3 million) compensation if he is declared factually innocent at a May hearing.