AFTER 11 YEARS BEHIND BARS, 2 MEN WHO PLEADED GUILTY ARE EXONERATED OF MURDER

After 11 years behind bars, two North Carolina men were freed after a panel of judges ruled they didn’t kill a man during a home invasion despite their having pleaded guilty.

According to the AP, “Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson said they felt pressure to plead guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Walter Bowman so they wouldn’t have to face the death penalty or life in prison. A later confession by a prisoner led to DNA testing that excluded five men, including Kagonyera and Wilcoxson, who served time for the crime.”