Wayne Burgess now hopes to go to college (Picture: News Channel 5)
A man who was imprisoned for 24 years for a crime he did not commit says the world now is completely different to the one he left behind.
Wayne Burgess, now 61, was sent to jail in 1999 after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter in Pulaski, Tennessee.
He was told he’d be in prison for the rest of his life – but then the testimony from medical examiner Charles Harlan was discredited, and he claimed his signed confession was coerced as cops encouraged him to sign it as ‘routine procedure’.
A review of toddler Nakeavia’s autopsy found it was ‘physiologically impossible’ for her to internally bleed so quickly after Wayne supposedly hit her in the stomach.
Instead, chief medical examiner Dr Adele Lewis said: ‘It is more likely that the child sustained the lethal injury hours or even days before she arrived at hospital.’
Wayne’s lawyer John Morris said: ‘The order is clear – not only he didn’t do it – it was impossible he did it.’
He finally walked free from prison in 2023 (Picture: News Channel 5)
Wayne says he returned to a ‘brand new world’ (Picture: News Channel 5)
He finally walked out of prison a free man in May of last year and reunited with his loved ones, including his now 30-year-old son.
While behind bars Wayne missed out on huge developments like the 9/11 terror attack, the invention of the iPhone, the invasion of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama becoming the first black US president, and the invention of Facebook.
Now that he’s free, Wayne says he feels like he’s been born again into a ‘brand new world’.
He said: ‘Everything has changed since I went in and came out like a newborn baby out in the world.
‘A lot of people would have animosity, but not me. It’s something you have to go through.
‘I go to school in the fall at MTSU. You just need help with tuition. I’m a spiritual guy, and his [God’s] voice says “you go on and I’ll take care of the rest”.’
Wayne is set to return to school, and since he was freed from prison he’s been living with his family.
He hasn’t been able to work, and his lawyers say he’s developed kidney problems because he didn’t receive comprehensive medical care while behind bars.
Wayne’s lawyers are seeking compensation from the state fund for people who were wrongly locked up, to try and make up for the decades he lost in prison – as well as allow him to support himself.
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In the meantime, Wayne’s friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help him start his new life, which has already raised more than $2,500 (£2,000).
One donor, Andrew Creech, commented: ‘I was in prison for five years and it was hard getting back to normal.
‘I know after 24 years it must be extremely difficult adjusting, especially for a crime you did not do.
‘I wish you the best and my prayers are with you.’
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