Justice delayed. People really dont know how going to prison for something you didnt do, a crime you didnt commit, especially for a long, long time. What it does to a person. I was accused of killing a white man in a Drug Deal gone bad. This is a case theyre going to be teaching in Law School 100 years from now. What could dontae have become . It was a travesty ofjustice. It took 26 years to make it partially right. I was exonerated on august 22nd, 2019. A lot of people think the ultimate goal is just getting exonerated and getting out of prison, getting your freedom back. Its a lot more than that. Sometimes i wake up just crying. I just cry. People think that when you get exonerated, the fight is over. Itsjust beginning, really. I havent been pardoned. Governor Roy Cooper, for some reason, hasnt pardoned me. Hes asking for the state of North Carolina to acknowledge the wrong and give him what is due under the constitution. They buried this man alive | youre looking at a miracle. There was never an I Intention for him to be standing here today. We need to see what he can still become. Can i get my pardon . Can i get my freedom . Something that was given to me by god that you mistakenly took from me . Hey, how are you doing . All right, all right . Right here, the police pulled up right here. This exact spot, right here. Theyjump out. Whats up, man . And they were like, dontae, weve got a warrant. I said, a warrant for what . He said, murder. I said, murder . Man, yall tripping, man. Yall cray. I said, i didnt do nothing. Like this, slapped them handcuffs on me. That was the last time i was outside. This is where i got locked up at. I remember the first day i pulled up to the prison. Then that gate, zshhh boom. Then you hear them Razor Wires shake. Ding Ding Ding ding. I was in there so long, from a teenager to 44 years old. It was like every time i closed my eyes, i see a long tunnel with a little dot, pinprick at The End. And id be, like, man, am i still in prison . I couldnt sleep. My mind was running, my mind was racing, like, you got a Life Sentence for something you didnt. Youre in prison. Its pure torture, mental anguish, fear. And the fear is one of the great ones. You fear never getting out. I was accused of killing a white man in a Drug Deal gone bad. Mr george radcliffe. Now, that investigation was like no other. It was a couple of guys shooting and stuff that went on in the area, but when a white guy got killed, you couldnt walk down the street, you couldnt stop. Isaid, man, whoever they lock up for that through. Thats what i said. Because racism was so strong in green. They was looking for. Investigating for two months before they locked on me. This was a high profile case. It was a white man who was killed in a black neighbourhood known for drugs at that time. It was all over the news. There was a lot of pressure to get somebody for this murder. I heard so many stories that they wanted me for drugs. They said i was a big time, known Drug Dealer. I was known, a lot of people know me, but whatever reason it was, youve got the wrong man. This is something thats sort of well known in reviews of innocence cases. When you have a white victim who, tragically, is harmed, we see greater penalties associated and we see greater instances of wrongful convictions related to those crimes. Dontae being a black man in greenville, North Carolina in the 1990s was central to why he was convicted and central to why his conviction was not overturned sooner. Every time i went to court, it was a white man over me, i was in a Black And White case. Racism was part of the reason why they went so hard they tried to solve it and get somebody and it happened to be a black and a white. It wasnt until trial that he knew what the evidence was that was going to be used against him. No physical evidence, no fingerprints, no hair fibre, no nothing. Not of me. Not my. Nothing. Nothing on the scene, period. The primary witness that the District Attorney put forward was a 15 year old girl. Her name was charlenejohnson. Almost immediately following the trial, charlene came forward and recanted. She told the state that she was nowhere near this Murder Scene and that she had made up what she said at trial. A young lady came forward and said that her boyfriend had came home and told her that. He had shot a white man across town in a truck and that he wasnt going to prison for killing a white man. He said that for 20 something days, and then he killed himself with a gun, i guess. Committed suicide. That was never heard by a jury, again, based on a technicality. The court could have allowed that testimony in. The court did not. I guess they didnt believe it, you know . 0r didnt want to believe it. I dont know, you know . I think this is 1998. Think i had been locked up then, like, three years, i had heard from somebody that if youve got a picture of something in your mind that you want and you can look at it every day, if you can see it and believe it, you can get it. So i took the picture and wrote this on a picture and put it up on my mirror, and every day i looked at it and said, im free. Im free. Thats what this picture was for. I had to make a wilful choice was i going to act like a lifer or was i going to grow up, mature and use the situation to better myself . And the first step i did was getting a bible. I used to read, every day, one scripture, one verse. I would deliver him and honour him because he set his love upon me, and with long life would i satisfy him. So he would deliver me, deliver my. Here first and then deliver me out of prison, but i had to set my love, i had to love, and thats what i did. It was july 17th, 1994, the day she was born. I was in the countyjail. They announced over the intercom, Dontae Sharpe is the proud father of a baby girl. My name is imani carmen. I am 27 years old. Dontae is my dad. When i was younger, they told me he was injail for something that he didnt do. He had got life. We didnt have a bond, you know, with him being injail. I wasnt given a chance with him and i dont really know why. Iwas, like, god, im facing a Murder Charge for something i didnt do. Im not going to be there. I told my momma i wanted to better myself. I said, im a do everything in here that i wouldnt do or didnt think was important in the world. I went all out in everything i did. My mum probably missed four visits in 26 years. Dontae needed me then. You know, ifeel like he really. He needed me. I didnt want to miss visits. It was already bad enough being in prison for something you didnt do, and i feel like, what kind of mother would i be if i didnt go see My Son . He would wave and that wave used to destroy me. You know, they dont realise how much damage they do. Toa family. I never dreamed it would be 26 years. I thought i had got over the tears. I guess i hadnt. I met dontae as a duke law student. I had started in the wrongful Convictions Clinic and, as a part of the clinic, you are assigned a client. When i first met him, he would have already been in prison for 16 years. In dontae� s case, he received offers of Plea Deals throughout his time of incarceration, and at each turn along the way, he declined because the Plea Deal required him to say that he had done something that he had not done, to admit to a crime that he was not guilty of. Some innocent people have been coerced, have been tricked, have been scared into it, and some just got tired and took a plea bargain, said they did something they didnt do, and i never could understand them. He was saying, i am not going to allow this system to break a part of me that is still mine, and that is my truth, my integrity, my dignity. And while i completely stand with that, the reality of seeing him have to do that over and over again while the system failed, it. It broke me. Youre hurting and youre losing Faith And Hope in humanity. Sometimes. I just hollered out sometimes. Id just be, like. He screams god isaid, man, nothing, man. All free Dontae Sharpe this morning, i come out for My Son, montoya Dontae Sharpe. First, there was no physical evidence. Secondly, there were l false witness accounts. There were likely alternative suspects ignored and not. Pursued, so while dontae was locked up, The Real Killer was still walking around greenville. It was a travesty of justice and it took 26 years to make it partially right. The day that dontae got released was in greenville. It was, you know, in his hometown. His whole family was there. Theresa newman and spencer parris, who put on that case, did a phenomenaljob presenting the evidence. Do you solemnly swear the testimony given to the court in this session shall be the truth, the whole Truth And Nothing but the truth, so help you god . Charlenejohnson, she testified again in front ofjudge collins, and she said, ive been trying to make this right. You could hear, in the courtroom, a pin drop. People knew that this was an incredibly important moment. There was no way for the crime to have physically happened the way that the state said it was, that it was a physical impossibility. To me, this is sort of the core of how unbelievable it is that dontae sat in prison for 26 years, is that the evidence was right there in front of all of ourfaces. It was before the courts. The judge went back to his chambers and made it clear that he was going to announce his ruling from the bench, which is not always what happens in these cases. The court now resumes the sitting for the dispatch of this business. Cheering you finally get vindicated. You finally prove that all the years youve been telling people, im innocent. Man, i did not do this. I didnt kill this man. I didnt. And youve been saying it and saying it and saying it. It was real, but it didnt seem real. You, 0 god, have spoken this day. Yes. Laughter getting out of prison, wrongfully convicted, to get exonerated, i think is bittersweet to everybody at The End of the day. In prison, you sleep, you dont rest. My Sleep Patterns are still thrown off. Ive still got a habit of getting up, checking all my doors cos in prison, all the doors are locked. Yeah. I knew yall was at that pool. I see ya uh oh hey, munchkin. When i got out, it was a shock to be called Grandaddy Or Daddy by my daughter and my grandkids. Watching my dad be a grandad, you can tell hes been. Trying to make up for me. In her eyes, she wanted him here. She just became angry. And, you know. Been angry ever since about it. You know, i always let her know, if he could get out to be here with you, he would. Wanda, wanda, wanda, wanda. Yeah, itold her to go on with her life. I had a Life Sentence for something i didnt do. You know, i had to let her go. I had planned on not ever, you know, being with anyone i was with before. You know, that dontae dead. Honestly, that dontae dead. I was not expecting him to come home to me. I always said it, you know, i always told people, like, 0h, he come home, im not going to let anybody get him, he belongs to me. Im going to get my family now. Im a tell you what really got me when i seen my grandkids, wytham and marnie, thats my family. Thats what i always wanted. When i seen that foursome, made me want to dance a little bit. Isaid, god, im back i got to try this. I got to go with it. We still dont know each other all, you know, the way, but. It� s better. He kind of catching onto me, im catching onto him, so. People think that when you get exonerated, the celebration is on. Its over with, the fight is over and youre celebrating, and. Itsjust beginning, really. Its just beginning. When i first got out. He groans. I couldnt get a job. The felony stopped me from getting a job. From getting an apartment. It seemed like the felony was controlling my life, and the only way i can get the felony out my record is get pardoned. I havent been pardoned. Governor Roy Cooper, for some reason, hasnt pardoned me. If i were to get a pardon, it would make everything a lot easier. Hi, everybody. Governor Roy Cooper here. Every year, we carve out time to do the turkey pardon. We Eat Turkey for thanksgiving, so its a tradition for the governor and the president to pardon the turkeys for thanksgiving. Thats a holiday that we celebrate here in america. Its all right to have traditions, but Pardoning A Human Being is way more important than pardoning an animal. Im announcing that i am a candidate for governorl of North Carolina. Cheering Roy Cooper became the governor of North Carolina after serving for more than 30 years as the Attorney General or in some Form Or Fashion within the criminaljustice system. And now, as governor, he has the ability to decide the future of dontaes life. A pardon is a technical term. It can only come from the governor in North Carolina and it is the only way to get a determination by the state that you are innocent, and it is the only way to get compensated. You get a very small amount of money in comparison to what has been taken away from you, but its that stability that allows you to be able to build a new life. Can i get my pardon . Can i get my freedom . Something that was given to me by god that you mistakenly took from me . He is not asking for the state of North Carolina to apologise. Hes asking for the state of North Carolina to acknowledge the wrong and give him what is due under the constitution. When you get exonerated, youre supposed to be able to get pardoned. Theres some actual other states that have automatic pardons after you get exonerated. North carolinas not one of them. Im not begging for it, im not pleading for it. Im just here to put mr cooper, this whole system, North Carolina, on notice that im a Keep Right on talking cos theres more guys that i left behind me thats innocent. They buried this man alive | youre looking at a miracle. There was never an I Intention for him to be standing here today. When you try to do this and you do this and you kill a persons dream. Thank you, reverend. All right. Thank all of you. Thank you. Like, tomorrow. Talking about freedom. God knows freedom come in all forms. Land of the free, home of the brave. Who are the free youre talking about . Youre talking to . Im glad dontaes out. Yeah, these ought to be ready. Cant get what i lost in 26 years. I got My Son back. Thank god. We got to start from where we are right now. Heavenly father, we thank you for this unity today. We thank you, god, for the food were about to receive. We ask you to have it to be nourishment to our body and a blessing to our needs. Injesus name, we thank you. Amen freedom to me is, you know. Not being locked in, boxed in by them fences and that razor wire. Its been bittersweet since ive been home. It aint all been roses. Todays more like a celebration of the beginning of my freedom because i still havent been pardoned. Theres some guys that have never been pardoned, theyve been home ten years. You know, im not going to let that hold me back or hold me down cos i cant. Im going to live whether i get it or not. Welcome to Bbc News im Tim Willcox our top stories. Six years after the worst ever Terror Attacks in Paris Salah Abdeslam and 19 other defendants finally go on trial. Ashraf ghani apologises to the afghan people. The former president says he fled the country to avoid more bloodshed. 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