A Jacksonville man who spent over 40 years in prison for crimes he was wrongfully convicted of is now free, per News4Jax.
Willie Williams Jr. was convicted in 1976 for attempted murder of two store patrons and armed robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
In 2020, Williams was released on parole, which he would've been on for the rest of his life.
Williams' conviction relied on the testimony of one of the shooting victims who had previously confessed he didn't remember who the shooter was, according to the legal director of The Innocence Project, Brandon Scheck.
"The State indicated to the jury that it should believe in this identification because the victim would never forget the shooter's face... Unbeknownst to Mr. Williams or his counsel at the time of the trial and contrary to the State's characterization of the strength of the victim's identification, the victim who identified Williams as the shooter did in fact forget his face," Scheck said in a statement.
According to Scheck, the victim was unable to identify Williams in a photo lineup. The victim later connected Williams to the crime "after being hypnotized" to attempt and improve his memory.
Hypnosis is a method that's been proven unreliable and neither law enforcement nor prosecutors were informed that the victim had been hypnotized, according to Scheck.
A Conviction Integrity Review investigation by the Office of State Attorney Melissa Nelson uncovered the new evidence that led to Williams' charges being dropped.
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