On Monday, a Missouri man could finally carry on his life after a court judge ruled in his favor to no longer serve his jail sentence. USA Today reported that Cornealious "Mike" Anderson was 23 at that time when he had aided a Burger King assistant manager in St. Louis suburb in 1999 to rob the store. Anderson was later sentenced in 2000 to 13 years in prison, but had never served any of the sentence as the report for incarceration did not come. It was also established that Anderson had followed up with his then-lawyer about the report.
Anderson's case came into national spotlight when he was seized by Eight US marshals on the order of the Missouri Department of Corrections in July last year, when his original sentence was supposed to have ended. By then, USA Today said Anderson had turned his life around by having his own construction-related business, had three children with his second wife and became a father to a stepchild. The 37 year-old is also active in the community, offering his services in a Webster Groves church and youth football as a coach.
Since his seizure by US marshals, Anderson was reportedly detained in the Southeast Correctional Center, 150 miles away from his wife and children.
Judge Terry Lynn Brown of Missouri's 33rd Judicial Circuit Court reversed the decision on the basis of his good character and the impact of the clerical error and the subsequent effect on his family. He said to Anderson in court, "You've been a good father. You've been a good husband. You've been a good taxpaying citizen of the state of Missouri. That leads me to believe that you are a good man and a changed man."
Aside from his freedom, Brown also said that Anderson will be given credit for the 4,794 days between the time he was convicted up to the time he was arrested by US marshals.
