Man freed from 20 YEARS in prison due to DNA technology

While this particular man wouldn't have been put to death, this story illustrates why there should be a moritorium on the death penalty until we fix the system. This is just another in the long list of people who have been exonerated due to technological advances.



'Felt great' to be free


BY CHRISENA COLEMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, July 8th, 2006

On his first full day of freedom, Alan Newton still couldn't get over how much life had changed in two decades.

"The cell phone is amazing!" he marveled.

"Technology has advanced big-time," Newton said. "I worked in the law library in prison, so I am familiar with computers. The cameras and video phones were not [around] when I got locked up."

Two days after being released from serving 21 years in prison for a brutal rape he did not commit, the 44-year-old Bronx man is taking extraordinary delight in ordinary conveniences.

"Yesterday I got up totally free and it felt great," Newton told the Daily News. "I slept in a comfortable queen-size bed, instead of the small beds in the prison where half your body hangs over the side.

"When I woke up, nobody was looking over my shoulder and telling me what to do," he continued. "I am living my life and I feel born again."

Newton spent more than two decades in New York's toughest prisons, including Attica and Sing Sing, for the June 23, 1984, rape of a young woman in an abandoned building near Crotona Park. He was freed Thursday after the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that handles cases where postconviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence, advocated on his behalf.

Yesterday, Newton and his brother, Tony, spent most of the day at the group's office on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan to help jumpstart his transition back into the real world. Innocence Project attorneys Vanessa Potkin and Barry Scheck said the first order of business is to replace Newton's prison-issued ID card with a more suitable form of identification.

"He walked out with nothing," said Potkin. "The road will be long and difficult, but his family is there to support him. Getting out of prison is a total adjustment for Newton, but we will be there to assist him. We will take one day at a time."

Newton has his own to-do list which includes finding a job and a place to live, getting his bachelor's degree in business administration, learning to drive - and earn enough cash to someday own a BMW.

He also wants to spend time familiarizing himself with gadgets like iPods.

Newton said he also has treasured the time spent with his family and watching the news on TV. He recalled that watching TV in prison was a luxury, and there were times when he went weeks without knowing what was going on outside the prison.

"I did see the World Trade Center crumble on TV," said Newton, who plans to visit Ground Zero. "That was personal for me because I used to work down there on the 13th floor of one of the towers...I worked at the New York Telephone Co."

Newton said he also plans to do leg work for other innocent men who are behind bars.

"I could have taken a plea, but I had to stand up for the truth," said Newton. "It's always easier to give up than to fight, but I fought because I was innocent. I would do it all over again to clear my name."

Link to Article