NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After spending more than a decade behind bars for a murder he said he didn't commit, a judge cleared Paul Shane Garrett's name on Wednesday and exonerated him of the 2000 murder of Velma Tharpe.
It'd been a long fight for justice for Garrett, who said he had no choice but to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter 21 years ago.
In 2011, DNA evidence pointed to another suspect in Tharpe's murder, Calvin Atchison, who Metro Police arrested in May.
"I didn't get to watch my kids grow up, wasn't in their life," Garrett told reporters outside the courtroom Wednesday. "It affected my ability to get a job, it affected my ability to trust anyone."
With his record clear, Garrett says he plans to make up for lost time by spending more time with family and maybe even getting a new job.
"It's like everything is lifted," Garrett said. "Don't give up on anything. I knew this day was going to come but I didn’t know when. I didn’t know if I was going to be alive to see it. And I lost a lot of loved ones who’d love to see this.”
Contributing to Garrett's exoneration were the Tennessee Innocence Project, cold-case Detective Mike Roland, and the Conviction Review Unit of the District Attorney's Office, which was formed in 2017.
