A man who served 25 years in prison has been released after new DNA technology proved he did not commit a rape in 1989.
Darryl Pinkins, 63, was jailed in May 1991 after a woman claimed he was the man who dragged her into a car in Hammond, Indiana, and violated her for hours.
He has always maintained he was innocent, but all the evidence pointed against him.
But now, tests done by the Indiana Innocence Project using technology invented in the last few of years found there is no evidence from the alleged attack that points to Pinkins.
After a quarter-century in jail, Pinkins has lost teeth, he is now diabetic, and he now has thyroid disease.
However, he beamed on Monday morning as he walked out of Lake County correctional facility into the sunshine to be reunited with his family.
Among the crowd stood his 24-year-old son, who was born after Pinkins was jailed.
'It feels like this day was - was meant to be. And I know it was,' Pinkins told reporters waiting outside for him in a news conference recorded by ABC7.
'There was a crack in the system. It does exist, and I'm not the only one within this situation that's going through this.
'It's people that are not fortunate enough to get the team that I have behind me."
Pinkins' case was taken on by a team from the Idaho and Indiana Innocence Projects, as well as Indiana University Law School professors, in 2007.The unit used a new method of analyzing DNA, which is called TrueAllele.
To date, the technology has been used to identify missing people or draw distinctions in new cases.
In 2007, the convictions review unit took on Pinkins' case.
His is the first convict whose sentence has been thrown out after TrueAllele testing.
Pinkins' friend Roosevelt Glenn, who was also jailed in connection with the rape in 1991, was released on parole in 2009. But subsequent tests have also excluded him from the scene.
Once the tests were completed, the convictions review unit handed their evidence to the prosecutors.
Read more: Man jailed for rape 25 YEARS ago released thanks to new DNA tests
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Mashallah
My nikka better get some compensation
