“Relief, happiness, it was just amazing to walk out of there,” Brian Beals told The AP in a phone interview. “I’m ready to begin life again.”
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man who spent 35 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit was freed Tuesday after a judge vacated his conviction and dismissed all charges.
Brian Beals, 57, struggled to find the right words to describe his feelings as he stood outside Robinson Correctional Center in Crawford County, some 210 miles (338 kilometers) south of
Beals left prison with two cardboard boxes full of his belongings Tuesday to screams of joy and tears of excitement, said Lauren Kaeseberg, an Illinois Innocence Project attorney who greeted him.
Much has changed during Beals’ time away. He marveled at cellphone technology.
He used his time behind bars to mentor young people and write plays, including one entitled “Jabril’s Chains” about a former inmate. It was performed this year at a Chicago coffee shop.
There were also many low points. During his incarceration, he lost his mother, his older brother and several aunts and uncles.
He isn’t sure what he will do next, but he hopes to return to Chicago someday.
“I’m a taking it in. Processing it. “I’m looking forward to building a life, starting over,” he said. “I have to figure out what this world has in it.”
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