Two African-American half-brothers have been exonerated of rape and murder convictions in North Carolina after over 30 years behind bars. Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown were found guilty in 1984 of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl the previous year. There was no physical evidence tying them to the crime, but police obtained confessions that McCollum and Brown have always said were coerced. Both brothers have mental disabilities. McCollum was sentenced to death and Brown to life in prison. Police at the time failed to investigate another man, Roscoe Artis, who lived nearby and had admitted to a similar rape and murder at around the same time. After three decades, the case saw a major breakthrough last month when testing by North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission tied Artis’ DNA to the crime scene. On Tuesday, the two brothers were declared innocent and ordered freed. Prison officials say they will be released today after ordering them to remain behind bars for a final night. In a recent interview with The News & Observer after the DNA testing pointed to a likely exoneration, Henry Lee McCollum said he never lost hope that he would one day see freedom.

Henry Lee McCollum: “Since I have been here, I have never stopped believing that one day I would be able to walk out that door. I never stopped believing that. A long time ago, I wanted to find me a good wife, I wanted to raise a family, I wanted to have my own business and everything. I never got a chance to fulfill those dreams, never got the chance, because the people took 30 years away from me, and they destroyed my life. Now, I believe that God is going to bless me to get back out there.”

Over the years, death penalty supporters have cited the brothers’ case in order to back capital punishment. In 2010, the North Carolina Republican Party pasted McCollum’s mug shot on campaign mailers. In 1994, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pointed to McCollum as an example of why the death penalty is just. Henry Lee McCollum was North Carolina’s longest-serving death row prisoner until Tuesday. Today, along with his half-brother Leon Brown, he will walk out of prison after 30 years behind bars for a crime they did not commit.