CNN
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A Florida man who served three a long time behind bars for a homicide he says he didn’t commit returned to prison Monday after spending the previous two years constructing a life exterior jail partitions.

Since his conditional launch in 2021 amid appeals, Crosley Green, 65, had held a job at a machine grafting facility, attended church and hung out along with his grandchildren. He even fell in love.

“I’ve been with this man for two years,” his fiancée, Kathy Spikes, advised CNN. “To not be able to have a 5 o’clock phone call to say, ‘I’m home,’ for me to say, ‘What do you want for dinner,’ that’s what I’m anxious about.”

His return to jail came about two weeks after US District Judge Roy Dalton dominated he should flip himself in to the authorities by April 17 to renew his life sentence.

Green surrendered to Florida’s Department of Corrections at 5 p.m. Monday, in line with his attorneys. He was accompanied by Spikes, members of the family and his attorneys Keith Harrison and Jeane Thomas, who’ve represented him professional bono for 15 years.

Green was allowed to leave prison on conditional release in 2021, about three years after a federal court docket in Orlando overturned his conviction. The state of Florida appealed that call and received final yr, and Green’s conviction was reinstated. Dalton allowed Green to stay free whereas he exhausted his authorized choices. Green’s authorized staff petitioned the US Supreme Court, however in late February the court docket declined to listen to his case.

“I can’t be angry at no one,” Green advised CNN. “I don’t want no one else to be angry at no one. Anger isn’t going to take you nowhere. Ain’t going to do (anything) but harm you. I’m happy. I’m not happy about going back. I’ve got my future wife, I’ve got my friends that came up here with me. I’ve got my family.”

Green was convicted within the 1989 taking pictures demise of 21-year-old Charles Flynn. Green, who’s Black, was sentenced to demise by an all-White jury, then resentenced to life in jail in 2009 because of a technicality associated to the sentencing section of his trial.

In 2018, Judge Dalton dominated prosecutors had improperly withheld evidence that police at one level suspected another person was the shooter. But late final yr, the eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and reinstated Green’s conviction, saying the withheld proof was not materials to the case.

Green’s solely choices for remaining out of jail now are clemency or parole, in line with his authorized staff.

“We think he’s an outstanding candidate for parole,” Thomas stated. “He’s demonstrated that in the last two years he’s been under supervised release. He’s been an incredibly successful person on the outside with his work, his church and his family.”

Thomas has identified that clemency shouldn’t be the identical as exoneration. She says it’s only a mechanism by way of which the state decides somebody has served sufficient time behind bars to be launched.

Since his launch, Green has worn an ankle monitor and been “a model citizen,” in line with Thomas.

“For 15 years now, we have believed wholeheartedly, 100 percent in the innocence of our client,” Thomas stated. “As lawyers, we have to believe that the justice system will get it right. We’re going to keep fighting. This is a grave injustice. And we just believe that eventually we will get it right.”

Despite the most recent ruling, Green stays optimistic in his combat to show his innocence. In an announcement shared by his attorneys with CNN, he stated, “To me, it’s just another part of what I’m going through now to get my freedom. That’s all it is.”

He additional attributed his perseverance to his religion in feedback to CNN.

“If everyone can just believe in themselves the way I believe in myself, with the Lord, then you can understand and say the things that I can say by not letting anything come between you and your faith,” he stated.