Written by Staff Writer, CNN
Robert E Miller spent 16 years in prison before his conviction was overturned on Tuesday. The 69-year-old was convicted of the rape and murder of best-selling writer Alice Sebold in 2001, but a judge vacated his conviction last week — and on Tuesday Miller was officially exonerated by the same presiding judge.
Miller was arrested by a Baton Rouge police detective, who coerced witnesses to incorrectly implicate Miller. Although he admitted having had an affair with Sebold, he denies any involvement in her murder. The case was brought back into the limelight when HBO aired a documentary about the case, “Night Will Fall.”
“It takes a strong man to go through 16 years of nightmare, and I’m so relieved to be able to leave it behind,” Miller said in a statement to CNN affiliate WAFB. “It’s only now that I’m beginning to feel sane and a sense of normalcy, and I’m delighted to be able to tell my story to anyone who would listen.”
Mitch Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro Bono Project, worked with Miller’s lawyers to clear his name.
“We knew from the beginning that he was innocent,” Scheidler said in a statement. “Through a combination of alibi, eyewitness and DNA evidence, and close examination of the circumstances of the case, we were able to demonstrate that his conviction should be vacated.”