A man who served almost 29 years on a murder conviction is free after prosecutors determined his and another man’s confession to the crime was false. NY1′s Roger Clark filed the following report.
It would be a huge understatement to say that David McCallum was emotional after hearing a judge’s ruling that allowed him to leave the courtroom a free man after nearly three decades in prison.
“That was just pure emotion,” McCallum said. “I’m very, very happy, but very, very sad at the same time because this situation in some ways could have been avoided.”
The murder convictions of McCallum and Willie Stuckey were thrown out after the Brooklyn district attorney found that the men were fed false information, leading to false confessions in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Nathan Blenner. Stuckey died in prison in 2001.
A recent documentary chronicles the then-16-year-olds’ conviction and their fight to prove their innocence.
Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson said he decided to look into the case in January.
“We’ve determined that there’s not a single piece of evidence that linked David McCallum or William Stuckey to the abduction of Nathan Blenner, to the car that was stolen, to the body of the victim or even to the area where the body was recovered,” Thompson said.
McCallum embraced family and friends before talking to the media about what he called a justice system that is broken, but can be fixed. He was candid about serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
“I’ve had a long time to think about that, unfortunately, but at the same time, I think I’m mature enough to understand that I can’t get that back, and I won’t even attempt to get that back,” he said. “I think my life kind of starts from this point on.”
McCallum said he looks forward to spending time with family and eating his mom Ernestine’s cooking. She said she never gave up hope that this day would come.
“Everybody hurts, but I’m just praying that something good will come out of this,” she said.
As for what’s next for David McCallum, he hopes to continue his education that he started in prison. He also would like to do public speaking to talk about his experiences.
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