ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Two North Carolina men walked free Thursday when a panel of judges ruled they didn't kill a man during a home invasion despite their guilty pleas a decade earlier.
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.
"It's been a long time," said the 32-year-old Wilcoxson, who embraced his daughter and father as he walked out of a county lockup after 11 years behind bars...
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