For a sensational miscarriage of justice he was imprisoned for 24 years. Released two years ago, he can now turn the page entirely: the governor of North Carolina has pardoned him definitively, rehabilitating his name.
It is the story of Dontae Sharpe, a North Carolina man arrested in 1994 and wrongfully convicted on first degree murder charges for the death of George Radcliffe. Months after the trial, an eyewitness retracted his statements but it took years for Sharpe to see the sentence overturned.
"My family name has been canceled - he said -. It is a burden on my shoulders and on my family's shoulders".
With final acquittal and his name rehabilitated, Sharpe will now be able to claim compensation of up to $ 750,000 for years in prison. It may not be too late to get her life back, which she has already given a new meaning to: that of actively dealing with cases like hers of judicial errors. "My freedom is not yet complete as long as there are people unfairly in prison, unfairly convicted and people awaiting pardon," he explained.
"Sharpe and the other wrongfully convicted deserve that the injustice done to them be recognized in full and publicly," Governor Roy Cooper said.
(Unioneonline / D)
