In 1975, at 18, David Bryant was locked up for the conviction of raping and murdering 8-year-old Karen Smith in a Bronx apartment building. Last Thursday, after 38 years, Bryant was released by a judge who said he was never given a fair trial, CBS Local News reported.
"You spend day in and day out for 38 years, say to yourself if, not when, if I'm ever released what do I do? What do I do?" Bryant asked.
Even his own parents had doubts about his innocence.
'I just wanna go to church and get on my knees and pray for my mother and father because they never believed me," he told the New York Post. 'I wish they were alive today so that I could tell them that I didn't do it.'
Bryant's release does not necessarily translate into him being completed cleared of all charges. He, nonetheless, remains adamant of his innocence. Bryant may still face a future trial on the rape and murder charges, and that the Bronx District Attorney's Office said it will review the trial record before a decision to appeal is made.
It was discovered that Bryant's blood type did not match what was found at the scene where the young girl was killed in a stairwell of a Bronx building.
Kate Germond, from the Centurion Ministries, fought hard alongside his legal team to get him released from prison
"This is something I know, I know I never did do," Bryant said on Thursday.
