Gerry is home after 30 years in prison.
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John,
On his last night in prison, Gerry Thomas did not sleep. Instead, he spent the night with about a dozen of the people he was soon to leave behind, people with whom he’d shared "information and love."
"I used to tell them, ‘Hold on, help is on the way,'" Gerry said.
** "I can finally walk free both physically and mentally."
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Gerry Thomas
On Monday, his wait came to an end. Gerry finally walked free and returned home to his family on a cold Detroit morning after Chief Judge Prentis Edwards, Jr. granted a motion to vacate his 1991 conviction for the 1987 assault and attempted murder of a Detroit woman. Share his story on Twitter ([link removed]) and Facebook ([link removed]) .
“I have felt the weight of a house on my back for all these years and as soon as I came home, it lifted, and I can finally walk free both physically and mentally,” the 62-year-old said.
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Gerry Thomas moments after he was freed from 30 years in prison. Photo by Suzy Salamy/Innocence Project.
Gerry, an Innocence Project and Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School client, was exonerated on Monday as a result of a reinvestigation by the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office at the request of the Innocence Project.
He spent his first day of freedom with his family and supporters, and said he felt “up in the air.”
Now that he’s free, Gerry, who is an artist, said there is “no question” that he’ll keep creating art. He plans to return to leather and woodwork, which he first discovered a talent for while helping his brother fix up houses when he was younger. He added that creating art was a comfort to him while incarcerated, and got him through decades of wrongful conviction.
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Handmade cards that Gerry Thomas sent his legal team over the years while in prison. Photo by Daniele Selby/Innocence Project.
Over the years that the Innocence Project has worked on his case, Gerry has sent us beautiful cards and handmade clocks, which our staff proudly display on their desks. And we can’t wait to see what his first artworks as a free person will be.
Join us in sharing Gerry’s first moments of freedom on Twitter ([link removed]) and Facebook ([link removed]) .
—The Innocence Project Team
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Started in 1992 as a legal clinic at Cardozo School of Law, the Innocence Project is now an independent nonprofit, affiliated with Cardozo, that exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
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