As shown above: Darrell (left) and Kane are happy to be free and eager to start their new lives.
Darrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey were both just 17 when they were sentenced to life in prison for killing a friend.
Hosts Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis began noticing inconsistencies in the case as they investigated the decades-old murder of 15-year-old Brian Bowling for their podcast "Evidence." Their subsequent investigation revealed that the two men serving sentences for the murder of Brian Pauling were innocent, and the two were released from prison twenty-five years later.
As a result of their investigation and the legal work of the Georgia Innocence Project, Darrell and Kane were released last week for the first time since they were convicted of murder in 1998.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Susan said: "We have discovered a case that has been forgotten by the world. ”
Kane (left) and Darrell hold newspapers about their release
According to CNN, Darrell and Kane's ordeal began in October 1996, when Kane brought a gun to his friend Brian's home near Rome, Georgia. When Brian told his girlfriend on the phone that he was playing "Russian Roulette" with a gun, suddenly a gunshot rang out and Brian died.
At first, Kane is charged with manslaughter, but as the police investigate, under pressure from Brian's family, they conclude that Brian was murdered by Kane with the help of Darrell.
U.S. media reported that Darrell (right) was released in December 2022
The police investigation hinges on two witnesses, and under the Georgia Innocence Project, a woman claims she heard Darrell and Kane talking about how they murdered Brian because Brian knew too much about the petty theft they committed, so the two wanted to kill and silence them. A man allegedly told police he saw Darrell fleeing the scene after Brian's death.
The testimony of two witnesses led to the conviction of Kane and Darrell, then 17, of murder and conspiracy to murder, who were sentenced to life in prison, but their story did not end there.
More than two decades later, Susan and Jacinda quote the story of Kane and Darrell on their podcast, The Evidence. According to CNN, as the two anchors delved deeper into the case, the situation became clearly unreasonable.
Darrell (right) is hugged after his release from prison
Susan and Jacinda interviewed two witnesses whose testimony led to the conviction of Kane and Darrell. Susan and Jacinda discover that Kane and Darrell's story has changed a lot since 1998.
Jacinda told CNN: "It took us a long time to talk to these two witnesses, and as an investigation, the podcast was conducted almost in real time, and when we finally found those two witnesses, it became clear that it really confirmed that both Kane and Darrell had been wrongly identified." ”
As explained by The Guardian, the female witness told the podcast that at that time police threatened to take her child, forcing her to give perjury. Another male witness, who had hearing and speech impairments, was misinterpreted when his testimony was about an unrelated shooting witnessed in 1976.
As a result, Darrell's lawyer applied for a new trial. Darrell and Kane accepted guilty pleas to manslaughter and were subsequently released from prison, each serving 25 years in prison.
The Evidence podcast Jacinda and Kane
Kane told CNN: "It's surreal, to say the least, and I'm sure it will be great, step by step. Anyway, over the years, I've never allowed my mind to be locked in. He also noted that he did not dare to sleep the first night he was out of prison because he was afraid it was all a dream.
In a statement from the Georgia Innocence Project, Darrell said: "You never thought that something like this would happen to you, and I never thought I'd spend most of my life in prison, especially for something I didn't do." ”
Both are looking forward to starting their lives again, the world has changed a lot since 1998 and they have a lot to catch up on. According to The Washington Post, when Susan and Jacinda first contacted Kane, Kane asked them, "What is a podcast?" ”