By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Freddie Lee Gaines spent 13 years in prison on a murder conviction. But it was later determined that he did not commit that murder, and Monday he received a full pardon. In 1972, he was charged with killing a man and was later sentenced to 30 years in prison. He served 13 years in prison before being released in 1985. Five years later, a Florida man confessed to the crime. The state legislature passed a bill in 1996 to pay Gaines one million dollars over ten years as compensation for his time in prison. Now that he has received a full pardon, he will be able to vote for the first time in three decades. Gaines says he has been working for years to achieve that.