Canada Global Tv: According to reports, a Tennessee man who spent 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit died not long after being released.
Claude Garrett, 66, died in his sleep earlier this week after only six months of freedom.
According to his friend Liliana Segura, he was released from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in May.
“Claude has enjoyed his independence for the past five months since that time. He relished every moment spent with his daughter, Deana, and in particular with his adored grandchild,” Segura wrote.
After going to a pub, Lorie Lance perished in a fire in their home in 1992, and Garrett was found guilty of her murder.
While trying to help Lance, Garrett claimed to have dozed off. He claimed to have woken Lance up and attempted to lead him to the front door. He claimed that instead, she went to the back door as he went outside and dialled the fire department.
As firefighters tried to get the fire under control, Claude kept telling them “I don’t understand why, I don’t understand why she didn’t follow me out the door,” according to the report.
After the fire was eventually extinguished, firefighters later found Lorie’s body in a utility room. She had died from smoke inhalation.
On Aug. 20, 1993, after two and a half days of deliberations, the jury found Claude Garrett guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison because of alleged signs of arson.
Earlier this year, after years of appeals, Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins wrote that Claude had shown “actual innocence”.
