walled in no more

For 17 years Greg Taylor was locked away for a murder he didn't commit.

On Thursday he was "the first person in North Carolina to be exonerated using a new process established to handle convicted people's claims of innocence. Last September, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission voted unanimously that Taylor's case warranted further review." The commission is the only state-run agency in the country that investigates post-conviction claims of innocence.

Exonerating innocent men is a storyline that is sadly becoming all too common in this state over the past few years. Darryl Hunt, Joseph Abbitt and Dwayne Dail were in the courtroom today to hear the verdict and welcome another man into their unique group. DNA (or lack thereof) helped their cases. It did to a certain degree with Taylor. But it was the lack of any substantial evidence that led the the three-judge panel to their decision.

But for the grace of a higher power, any one of us could have been in a situation like Taylor's for whatever reason. He wasn't an innocent man, but he was innocent of this crime.

For more on this story by please go here.
And there's a photo gallery here.
And check out the video. If you don't get a bit emotional for the family who now has their son-brother-father back in their lives, you might want to check your pulse.

As for the photo above. Taylor broke away from his first post-incarceration meal with his family -pasta salad with shrimp and little pizza on the side- to speak with some friends he hadn't seen in a long time. Like many things in the coming days of his new life, talking on a cellphone is an unfamiliar experience to him. Funnily enough, he was constantly apologizing for yelling as he wasn't sure how the sound traveled up to the mouthpiece.