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Sex Crimes

Ex-death row inmate looks to adjust to life outside after 3 decades; DNA upends NC conviction

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    James McCollum, facing camera, embraces his son Henry following the younger man's release from Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Henry McCollum spent more than 30 years on death row for a rape and murder he didn't commit. McCollum's Step mother Priscilla McCollum is at left. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker) (The Associated Press)

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    CORRECTS IDENTIFICATION TO HENRY, NOT JAMES - Henry McCollum is followed by reporters as he leaves court following his release from Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. McCollum spent more than 30 years on death row for a rape and murder he didn't commit. On Tuesday, a judge overturned the convictions of Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46, in the 1983 rape and murder of Sabrina Buie, citing new DNA evidence showing the 11-year-old girl may have been killed by another man. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker) (The Associated Press)

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    Leon Brown listens to evidence during a court hearing for him and his brother, death row inmate Henry McCollum Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 in Lumberton, N.C. On Tuesday, a judge overturned the convictions of Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46, in the 1983 rape and murder of the 11-year-old girl, citing the new evidence that they are innocent. The ruling is the latest twist in a notorious legal case against the men that began with what defense attorneys said were coerced confessions from two scared teenagers with low IQs. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Chuck Liddy) (The Associated Press)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Former North Carolina death row inmate Henry McCollum has so much to learn about the world that was denied him in his three decades behind bars for a girl's rape and killing that authorities now say he didn't commit.

McCollum has never accessed the Internet or owned a cellphone.

And Wednesday when he tried to get in his dad's car to go get a hot bath and something to eat, the seat belt was a mystery to him.

New DNA evidence led a judge to release McCollum and his half brother, 46-year-old Leon Brown, in the 1983 rape and slaying of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie.

A prosecutor now says he might reopen the case and look at charging a different man in the girl's killing.