A woman jailed as a teenager for a crime she did not commit has finally been released from prison after serving 22 years. Tyra Patterson was convicted in 1994 for being an accomplice to murder because she witnessed her friend kill another girl. Now 42-years-old, Patterson was reunited with her family on Christmas Day after celebrities joined a long-running campaign to free her. She has always maintained her innocence after being convicted in the murder and robbery of 15-year-old Michelle Lai in Cleveland, Ohio.
Patterson claims police forced her into confessing to a robbery she never committed, which opened her up to an aggravated murder conviction. She did not fire the shot that killed Lai, but under Ohio law accomplices can be handed the same punishment as killers. After spending more than two decades behind bars, Patterson was finally allowed to walk free on Monday when she hugged family members and shouted: ‘Let’s eat and open gifts!’
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