A black man was cleared of a rape charge after spending 47 years behind bars after the white victim of the attack admitted she might have identified the wrong person.
A judge vacated Tyrone Clark’s 1974 conviction for raping Anne Kane on Tuesday, just a day after another black man wrongly accused of raping author Alice Sebold was exonerated.
Clark gave his first interview to DailyMail.com on Thursday, a day after leaving prison, saying: 'I’m so happy to be out. I can’t think about the past. I just have to try to move on and take it one day at a time. I thank God for answering my prayers that I got out, because I didn’t think I was going to get out.’
Clark also shared his sympathy for Anthony Broadwater, 61, who spent 16 years behind bars for the rape of The Lovely Bones author Seabold. Broadwater was exonerated by a court on Wednesday - the day after Clark was cleared - after he too was revealed to have been the victim of an identification mix-up.
Clark said of Broadwater: ‘One year is a lot taken out of a person’s life.'
Tyrone Clark walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge vacated his 1974 rape conviction
‘I was telling the guys when I left the prison that there are a lot of innocent men in the same situation as in my shoes. And I promised I’m not going to leave them behind.
‘The injustice in society is very messed up.’
Clark, 66, was freed after Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine Roach said there was no indication DNA on victim Kane's clothing – considered critical evidence in the case – was preserved by investigators in 1973 following the rape in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.
The handle of a knife used in the assault was also compromised by being touched throughout the past four decades as the victim came forward with ‘genuine concerns’ regarding the accuracy of her identification nearly 50 years go.
The case marks the second time in the past week that a black man has been exonerated after being wrongfully imprisoned for rape; a man convicted of raping award-winning author Alice Sebold 40 years ago was freed Monday.
Clark was 18 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the rape of Anne Kane, 23, who was attacked at knifepoint by a stranger who broke into her Back Bay apartment in 1973
Anthony Broadwater, 61, spent 16 years behind bars for the 1981 rape that was the focus of Sebold’s career-making 1999 memoir Lucky.
Clark walked out of North Central Correctional Institute in Gardner on Wednesday afternoon without any identification, no bank account, phone, or working knowledge of the Internet.
Clark (right) was taken in by Jerry Brogna (left) who started a boarding facility called Christopher's House in honor of his son who passed away in 2007
His lawyer, Jeff Harris, drove him to a restaurant to enjoy his first dinner as a free man: chicken with onion rings, fried potatoes, soda, and dessert.
On Thanksgiving Day, Clark was set to have dinner with Jerry Brogna, a stranger who took him in.
‘He’s an angel from God,’ Clark said. ‘He gave me clothes and stuff and all that I needed. The day of my release, I had nowhere to go and this guy opened his house for me.’
Brogna founded a boarding facility called Christopher’s House following the death of his 23-year-old son in 2007 and took Clark in after being contacted by the former inmate’s social worker.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed a motion in September supporting Clark's petition for a new trial.
He’s now trying to help Clark navigate a world that’s changed drastically since his 1973 conviction.
‘I had a room available and it grew from there,’ Brogna told DailyMail.com. ‘We’re bound together now and going forward to make sure he understands what’s happening out here. A lot of things are changing.’
Clark spent nearly 50 years in prison after he was convicted of raping and kidnapping Anne Kane, 23, in June 1973, after someone broke into her Back Bay apartment and raped her at knifepoint.
Clark, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to life with the possibility of
