Man serves jail for 40 years, found innocent

November 19, 2016

South Carolina, Nov 19: 61-year-old James Robert McClurkin from South Carolina man who served 39 years in prison for a homicide that he says he didn't commit has been freed from prison as a parolee.

Robert

The Herald of Rock Hill reports that he left Broad River Prison on Thursday . Police and attorneys now say he didn't kill 74-year-old Claude Killian of Chester in August 1973.

McClurkin and Ray Charles Degraffenreid were convicted of murder in Killian's death in 1977. The evidence against them was the word of a co-defendant.

Last month, Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood told the South Carolina parole board that McClurkin was innocent. McClurkin was paroled on 11 October but was not released until Thursday. He has still not been officially exonerated.

The newspaper reports that Degraffenreid is in a prison mental wing. McClurkin says Degraffenreid also should be released.

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