FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tavares Hutchinson is finally a free man after spending 26½ years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Hutchinson was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 after a jury convicted him of robbing a man at gunpoint in Fort Lauderdale, taking his wedding ring and gold chain. From the start, Hutchinson insisted he was innocent.
“There’s absolutely no guarantee in this,” said Brandon Scheck, Hutchinson’s attorney with the Innocence Project of Florida. “Once someone is convicted, it’s very hard — especially on a life sentence — to get off from that.”…