NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – After serving 30 years of a life sentence in Tennessee for the fire that killed his girlfriend, a 65-year-old man has been declared innocent and released from prison.
Claude Garrett was released Tuesday from Riverbend prison in Nashville after a judge vacated his murder conviction and a prosecutor dismissed all charges against him, news outlets reported.
“Garrett has shown actual innocence,” Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins ruled.
Garrett was convicted in 1992 of killing his girlfriend, Lorie Lee Lance, 24, who died of smoke inhalation in the Nashville home they shared.
Investigators at the time believed they found evidence that he set the blaze, but fire science has improved in the last 30 years, and a filing by prosecutors last year said they no longer believe the fire was intentionally set.