D.C. man served 28 years. Then the evidence that sent him to prison fell apart.

[Blue_Tires]

Santae Tribble was watching Wolfman Jack on TV that Friday night in August 1978 when police surrounded his mother’s house in Southeast Washington.

Tribble, downstairs in the basement with his girlfriend, thought the fuss was over two unpaid traffic tickets.

Instead, officers took the surprised 17-year-old to headquarters. Years later, Tribble, now 51, struggled to find the words to accept what ensued: a murder conviction and his imprisonment for nearly three decades.

“I just never believed — I never believed that — I never believed that they could prove a person .?.?. guilty that was innocent,” he said quietly in his lawyer’s office. “I never thought I would be found guilty until I was actually found guilty.” He added, “I didn’t see the light of day again for 25 years.”

Tribble agreed to discuss his case while on lifetime parole and in the presence of his D.C. Public Defender Service lawyer, Sandra K. Levick. Tall, lean and possessing the watchful bearing of a man who has spent his entire adult life in prison or on parole, Tribble said he hoped that describing his case and the toll of lost decades would help prevent wrongful convictions, although his own fate remains pending before a judge.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/2012/04/16/gIQAbndgMT_story_1.html

[Number23]

1. 28 years. That's a lifetime

I hope he can find a way to get at least part of his life back.