He died five months after being released from prison at the age of 66, after serving 30 years in the southern US state of Tennessee for a crime he did not commit. Claude Francis Garrett died in his sleep last Sunday (30).
According to the New York Post, Francis was wrongfully convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Lorie Lee Lance, in 1993. However, in May of this year, the evidence used as evidence of the crime broke down.
“For the past 5 months, Claude has been enjoying his freedom,” wrote Liliana Segura after her friend’s death. “He enjoyed every moment with his daughter Deana and especially with his granddaughter whom he absolutely adored.”
On February 24, 1992, Lorie, whom Garret was planning to marry, died in a house fire. At the time, investigators claimed that models of the woman’s burns showed that the fire was set deliberately. Garrett was 35 when he was sentenced to life in prison by the popular three-day jury.
For the website The Intercept, Lilliana Segura said that during her time in the maximum-security prison in Riverband, Garrett made multiple requests to the courts to review the sentence, but after 28 years of waiting, justice has resumed the case.
Over the next two years, the prosecution gathered evidence and evidence, mostly from expert scientists, who explained how the evidence used against Garrett was flawed and led to the man’s release.
“Claude had plans. He wanted the state to be held accountable for his wrongful conviction,” his friend said on Twitter. “It’s incomprehensible to me that the people most responsible for stealing so much of your life never have to face what they’ve done.”
source: Noticias
