A 74-year-old American woman who spent over three decades in prison after being accused of being an accomplice to a murder committed by her partner was finally freed on Tuesday, March 25, when it was confirmed that she had nothing to do with the crime she was accused of.
Mary Virginia Jones was condemned for murder, kidnapping and robbery in 1981, when she was 42, when a jury considered that she had been an accomplice in the murder of a trafficker by the hands of her partner, Mose Willis, according to the AFP.
Although in the last 32 years the case of "Mother Mary", as the friends and family call Jones, was reopened many times, in the end it was the tenacity and perseverance of a group of Law students from the University of Southern California that convinced Judge William Ryan of the Los Angeles Superior Court, to dismiss the sentence and order her release.
The new evidence presented by the students proved Jones' initial statements, who assured for the last 32 years that her then partner had kidnapped two men and then put a gun to Jones' head to force her to take the two men to an alley, where he finally shot, according to the CBS.
After the murder, Jones tried to run away but she was arrested days later. Mose Willis was also arrested and sentenced to death, but died before the date of his execution, according to the quoted source.
Finally, in the face of the student's perseverance, the District Attorney's Office accepted Jones' release, after the Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court considered that the woman had already spent 11,875 days in prison, which exceeds the maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter, and granted her freedom, reported ABC.
When she met with her family and friends, the woman said she was thankful to be free and assured that she won't hold a grudge for the time she spent in prison.
"It feels very good. I'm very thankful, words can't express what I'm feeling right now, being with my little grandchildren," said the woman, reported ABC.
Video via ABC.