JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man is looking forward to time with family after spending 45 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Wednesday, Willie Williams, had his wrongful conviction overturned.
In 1976, Williams was convicted for robbery and attempted murder and was falsely identified by one of the victims. The method used was proven to be unreliable.
"I kept count of all the parole hearings I had, I was rejected from parole for years and years and years and years since 1983," Williams said.
While he was in prison, Williams missed time with family.
“My mother passed, my father passed, my aunt's passed, my uncle passed,” Williams said.
Williams knows it by heart: 45 years, 10 months and 19 days. That's how much time he spent in prison.
It should have been zero.
“They didn’t have anyone else to blame for the crime but me," Williams said.
According to the Florida Innocence Project, one of the victims confessed they could not remember who the shooter was and couldn't identify them in a photo lineup.
The victim was hypnotized to help him remember the shooter's face a method proven to be unreliable.
At the time, the state did not disclose that information.
Williams knew he was innocent.
To prove it, he got his law clerk certification in prison and spent years reading the law library.
“Continue to go to the library continue to file motions in the court hoping and praying that some court would give me relief," Williams said.
It came in 2021 when a motion filed by Williams triggered an integrity review by the State Attorney’s office.
It uncovered the victim was hypnotized.
In a court room Wednesday, charges against Williams were dropped and he is now free.
“And my family and friends were sitting out there in the audience, and I turned around and I looked at them and I said it’s a done deal it's over with it's in the rearview mirror," Williams said.
At the age of 79, it's Day 1. Williams said he is focused on his wife and family -- rather than those 45 years, 10 months, and 19 days.
“I can move forward I don’t want to look in the rearview mirror. I don’t want to see what happened in the past I’m concerned about the present and the future," Williams said.