Walter Forbes, an African American man who was wrongfully conv!cted and had served 37 years of his life sentence, is now finally free following the confession of the star witness, Annice Kennebrew.
She has admitted to lying in her previous testimony. In 1982, Forbes was conv!cted for ars-on and mu-rder after Kennebrew’s false statements linked him to a cr!me he did not commit.
Court documents from an evidentiary hearing in February 2020 stated that Kennebrew was “int!midated into doing so by two local men who knew her from around the neighborhood and who had thre-atened to ha-rm her and her family if she did not impl!cate Mr. Forbes.”
The case rooted in an incident on July 11, 1982, wherein Forbes br-oke up a b-ar f!ght and was sh-ot by Dennis Hall. The next day, Hall was k!lled in a f!re at his apartment. Kennebrew then testified that Forbes and two other men bu-rnt down Hall’s apartment.
Kennebrew decided to admit that she lied in her testimony in 2017. It was found that the owner of the apartment bu-rned it down to get insurance money, making him responsible for Hall’s loss. The owner was conv!cted of the ars-on but was not officially incr!minated in Hall’s loss.
Despite all that, Kennebrew will not get any pun!shment and can just get away with the lie she did 37 years ago since the statute of limitations for perj-ury only lasts for 6 years.
Moreover, Forbes, who is now 63-years old, said he already forgave her and the other people who were at fa-ult for having him conv!cted. He said he is just thankful that he is finally with his family again after a long time. “It was one of those moments where all you can do is gr!n,” he said.