Imprisoned at 13
Thaddeus Jimenez, known as TJ, was 13 when he was arrested for the murder of Eric Morro in Chicago.
He spent 16 years in jail - for a crime he did not commit.
The authorities now accept that they'd got the wrong man. TJ was released from prison on the 1st May 2009 - he is now 30 years old.
His lawyers believe that TJ is the youngest ever victim of a miscarriage of justice to be exonerated in the US.
Campaign for release
TJ's mother, Victoria, said that she'd always been convinced of TJ's innocence.
She says that TJ was with her at the time of Eric Morro's murder.
After TJ's was convicted, he wrote to the Centre on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. They decided to take on the case.
Legal battle
Steve Drizin, Director of the Centre on Wrongful Convictions, and his team re-interviewed many of the original witnesses.
After they had exhausted their investigation, they approached Cook County state's attorney's office and asked them to reinvestigate. They did so and became convinced of TJ's innocence.
Family impact
As part of the research into the case, TJ's legal team had to contact Eric Morro's family.
Although they were initially reluctant to re-open such a painful chapter in their lives, they too became convinced that a miscarriage of justice had occurred.
TJ's mother, Victoria has had serious health problems and says that her determination to see TJ freed is what has kept her going. "They took away a boy, but they gave me back a man, and a man I am very proud of," she says.