‘I'm free': Florida man leaves Broward Jail after serving 26 years with help from Innocence Project

A South Florida man who spent decades behind bars walked out of the Broward County Jail overnight after his lawyer said he was in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Tavares Hutchinson served 26 years in Florida’s prisons.

Following his release, he spoke with NBC6.

Hutchinson said he’s now relieved, and all that he wanted to do was walk outside and breathe fresh air, which he said felt nice.

“It’s just, it’s just relief that, you know, finally, um, um, my innocence is pulled in and I’m free,” he said. “I was always on my toes until I walked out the county jail.”

According to police, Hutchinson committed an armed robbery back in 1999 and stole a wedding ring and a gold necklace, but he said that that wasn’t him.

Fast forward to 2024, Hutchinson still claimed he was innocent and teamed up with the Innocence Project of Florida, which is a non-profit organization that works to find innocent people in prison and free them through new evidence.

In his motion to have a judge throw out his conviction, Hutchinson argued the necklace police found in his possession was nothing like the 14-carat gold Gucci-style chain that the victim said was stolen.

Testing showed that Hutchinson’s necklace wasn’t even 14-carat gold.

Hutchinson’s lawyer said his client didn’t match the description of the man whom the victim said robbed him.

Then, earlier this year, the victim said he misidentified Hutchinson at the time of the crime.

It’s something Hutchinson said he was waiting decades to hear.

“Like every day is just, it’s just a battle, but it’s an inner-battle,” he said. ‘It’s an inner-battle, man. You know, every day is, I got to stand up and fight.”

When asked if he thought the day when he’d be freed would come, Hutchison said he did.

“Actually, yeah, you know, I would sit on my bunk and, you know, visualize, visualize myself, you know, back and forth. In the county jail, walking out the county jail,” he said.

In a statement, the Broward County State Attorney’s Office wrote, “This was not an exoneration. After reviewing the case, prosecutors decided that it was in the interests of justice to modify Mr. Hutchinson’s sentence.”

Hutchinson now vows to help others in the fight for justice.

“I hope to see that what happened to me don’t happen to other young men,” he said.

Hutchinson said he has a lot of great things that are next for him.