For the past 22-years, Eddie Bolden has been fighting to overturn a wrongful conviction for the murders of two men. He was finally exonerated in 2016 but his release was not immediate.
Eddie feared he may miss his youngest son, Dom‘s graduation. Fortunately he was freed days before the ceremony.
“I was anxious to see him walk across the stage,” said Eddie during commencement for Goshen College. “I can’t stop crying.”
With the help of photo journalist turned private investigator, Susan Carlson, three witnesses were able to provide Eddie with an alibi that confirmed he was not at the location of the murders.
According to the South Bend Tribune, the judge ruled that the evidence provided by one of those witnesses was credible enough that it would have led to Eddie’s acquittal if jurors had heard it at the original trial.
While the 46-year-old father of two may have missed his son’s birthday’s and special moments, the boys maintained their relationship by visiting their father in jail.
“You all are the reason I didn’t give up,” Eddie said through tears to his sons during the graduation which doubled as a family reunion. “There were days that I didn’t want to live. The only thing that stopped me from giving up is that I knew it would hurt you all. I thank you for being my reason to live.”
Dom shared that he and his brother Antonio were inspired by their father’s unyielding strength and perseverance towards freedom.
“Seeing his situation and how he refused to give up and how hard that was, compared to that school is nothing,” Dom said. “Why would I give up school when he’s fighting his way through that?”
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Father Who Was Wrongfully Imprisoned For 22 Years Gets Exonerated In Time For Son’s Graduation was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
