Corey Atchison walks out of the Tulsa County Jail a free man.
After reading excerpts from her decision, District Judge Sharon Holmes granted Corey Atchison and his attorney Joe Norwood’s request to vacate the guilty verdict and declare Atchison “actually Innocent”. Holmes described what happened to Atchison during his 1991 murder conviction as a “fundamental miscarriage of justice”.
Atchison’s conviction was based on the testimony of a single witness who was 17 at the time. Additionally, there were multiple eyewitnesses to the murder who claimed someone other than Atchison was the killer. These witnesses were not adequately disclosed to Atchison or his lawyer back in 1991.
Atchison and Norwood will now pursue a civil settlement against the city of Tulsa.