Jones, instead, reacquainted himself with family members Friday, many of whom he had not seen in several years.

He wants to move on with his life with his family by his side. Though questions of his actual innocence still linger, he took it all in stride.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," Jones told onlookers while leaving the Duplin County jail.

In 1993, a Duplin County jury convicted Jones, now 49, of first-degree murder in the 1987 shooting death of Leamon Grady, a local bootlegger. The jury also convicted him of robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson, the top prosecutor in a district including Duplin, dismissed all of the charges against Jones on Friday, saying his star witness' recent recantation of trial testimony was the main reason for his decision. The recantation of Lovely Lorden, Jones' then-girlfriend, left Hudson with little evidence to put before a jury again.

Jones has maintained his innocence, and members of his close-knit family, many of whom live in Duplin County, said they believed him without a doubt.

Friday, they all wanted a piece of Jones during his first minutes of freedom.

Emerging from a back hallway at the Duplin County jail, Jones, smiling widely, was met with an ovation.

One by one, family members hugged Jones tightly. Reporters could detain him only briefly before he whisked past them to get outside of the jail.

Jones said he wanted to be far, far away from a cell. He stopped only briefly to pose for pictures with family and attorneys on his way to a van, where shouts of "he's free" followed him.

"I'm ready to go," Jones said. "I've been here too long."

Jones said he expected to be a free man someday, although the the N.C. Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 1996. Jones' 15 years on death row is the longest stint of any condemned inmate in North Carolina who has been freed.

His time spent on death row is followed closely by that of Glen Chapman, who was cleared and recently released from death row after 14 years there.

The big break in Jones' bid for freedom came from a federal judge in 2006.

U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle handed down a strongly worded order, taking Jones off death row and calling for a new trial. Boyle called the case against Jones weak and was critical of the performance of Jones' trial attorneys, Graham Phillips Jr. and Charles C. Henderson.

"Jones received two appointed attorneys that spent virtually no time or effort investigating the offense or his background," Boyle wrote in the order.

'A tough position'

During a news conference, Hudson defended his prosecution of Jones, laying blame on the court system.

"Any time the court system takes so long to resolve these important legal issues, the [district attorney's] office is placed in a tough position," Hudson said.

Hudson is not convinced that Jones is an innocent man, though his attorneys and supporters say otherwise.

Hudson highlighted Jones' criminal history. In 1989, Jones was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Seven years before that he was convicted of the same charge, according N.C. Department of Correction records.

Jones, who has had mental health problems, has not been a model prisoner. He has been cited for several infractions.

Hudson then turned to Lorden's recantation and said he was skeptical about the truthfulness of it.

"It was a close case, but I still feel [Jones] received a fair trial," Hudson said. "It's obvious [Lorden] hasn't told the truth. I believe she told the truth at trial."

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