Darrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey were just 17 when they were handed life sentences for the death of their friend.

Georgia Innocence ProjectDarrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey are elated to be destitute and eager to start their lives .

While inquire the ten - honest-to-goodness slaying of 15 - year - old Brian Bowling for their podcast , “ Proof , ” Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis bulge to observe inconsistencies in the case . Their subsequent investigation revealed that the two manpower serving time for Bowling ’s murder were innocent — and resulted in their release from prison house after 25 years .

Thanks to their investigation — and legal work by the Georgia Innocence Project — last workweek , Darrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey left prison house for the first time since their execution conviction in 1998 .

Darrell Lee Clark And Cain Joshua Storey

Georgia Innocence ProjectDarrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey are elated to be free and eager to start their lives.

“ We found a pillowcase that the world had leave , ” Simpson told theWashington Post .

Proof Crime Podcast / TwitterDarrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey carry newspapers with stories about their release from prison .

AsCNNexplains , Clark and Storey ’s trial by ordeal first began back in October 1996 . Then , Storey bring a gun for hire to his friend Bowling ’s house near Rome , Georgia . As Bowling told his girl over the phone that he was playing Russian Roulette with the torpedo , a shot suddenly knell out . Bowling was stagnant .

Storey And Clark With Newspapers

Proof Crime Podcast/TwitterDarrell Lee Clark and Cain Joshua Storey hold newspapers with stories about their release from prison.

At first , Storey was charged with involuntary manslaughter . But as police investigated — with pressure from Bowling ’s family — they concluded that Bowling had been murdered by Storey with assistant from Clark .

The police investigation hinge on two witnesses . accord to theGeorgia Innocence Project , a woman claimed that she had try Clark and Storey talk about how they ’d murdered Bowling because he knew too much about a picayune theft they ’d committed . And a world allegedly state police that he ’d seen Clark flee from the scene after Bowling ’s death .

This eyewitness testimony resulted in convictions of Clark and Storey , both 17 at the fourth dimension , for execution and cabal to commit murder . They were sentenced to life story in prison house . But their story did n’t end there .

Darrell Lee Clark

Georgia Innocence ProjectDarrell Lee Clark, far right, is embraced after his release from prison.

More than two decades afterward , their story was picked up by Simpson and Davis for their podcast , “ Proof . ” And as the two podcasters looked into the causa , it became “ clear that it just was n’t lend up . ”

Georgia Innocence ProjectDarrell Lee Clark , far right , is embraced after his release from prison .

Simpson and Davis were able to question the two witnesser whose testimony had resulted in Clark and Storey ’s convictions . And they found that their stories had changed a swell deal since 1998 .

Jacinda Davis And Cain Joshua Storey

Proof Crime Podcast/Twitter“Proof” podcaster Jacinda Davis with Cain Joshua Storey.

“ It took us a farsighted time to talk to both of those witnesser . The podcast was happening in almost veridical - time as an investigating , ” Davis told CNN . “ When we finally ascertain and were capable to blab to those two attestator , it really solidify that both of these guys had been wrongly convict . ”

AsThe Guardianexplains , the woman told the podcasters that police had coerced her testimony by threatening to take her children away . And the man , who had hear and speech impairments , had been misunderstood —   his testimonial was about an unrelated shooting he ’d witnessed in 1976 .

As a result , Clark ’s lawyer filed for a new test . He and Storey — who accepted a plea trade for involuntary manslaughter —   were subsequently released from prison . They ’d each served 25 eld of their life sentences .

Proof Crime Podcast / Twitter“Proof ” podcaster Jacinda Davis with Cain Joshua Storey .

“ It ’s been surreal to say the least , ” Storey told CNN , noting that he was afraid to go to slumber on his first night out of prison house because he was worried it was all a ambition . “ I think it ’s going to be great . One step at a fourth dimension . I never allowed my psyche to get lock up all those years , anyhow . ”

In a assertion from the Georgia Innocence Project , Clark additionally read : “ You never call back something like that is break down to materialize to you . Never would I have thought I would spend more than half my lifespan in prison , specially for something I did n’t do . ”

Both men are attend forward to starting their life anew . As the globe has changed quite a turn since 1998 , there ’s a lot for them to capture up on . TheWashington Postreports that when Davis and Simpson first reached out to Storey , he need them : “ What ’s a podcast ? ”

After translate about the true offence podcast that facilitate unloosen two wrongly convicted man from prison , see howLarry David unknowingly bring through a man from prisonafter his show “ Curb Your Enthusiasm ” prove his innocence . Or , see howMatheau Mooreappeared on a podcast to raise knowingness about his married woman ’s disappearing — and then was charged with her execution .