When 24-year-old Tyrone Holmes walked into a Chicago police station to be interviewed on April 11 1987, he could never have imagined it would be the last time he’d see the outside world for more than 33 years.

Unbeknownst to him, Tyrone was a suspect in the murder and sexual assault of Lajuana Camel who was found dead from strangulation in her apartment following a party Tyrone attended the previous night.

He’d returned home in the early hours and was at work when the police asked him to come in for questioning.

He says: “I’d always been brought up to believe the police were there to protect us and to do the best for us, so I trusted everything would be OK when I went to the station.

“But I soon realized that everything I said was being twisted or used against me.”

Tyrone was charged and faced trial later that year and was convicted, almost exclusively on the strength of bitemarks on the victim’s neck, which prosecution experts argued were made by Tyrone – a claim that defense experts strongly refuted. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Tyrone says, “It’s so discouraging when the system lets you down and it seems that nobody listens to your side of the story.

“But I never gave up hope, kept fighting for justice and always thought that one day someone would come along, support me and do the right thing.”

Tyrone had been unsuccessful in his efforts to win freedom until Partner Matt Devine, a Commercial Litigation lawyer from our Chicago office, took up his case.

Matt says: “I was appointed by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Claps to represent Tyrone on a pro bono basis after Tyrone filed a petition for a post-conviction relief without the support of a lawyer.

“Having met with Tyrone, I was immediately impressed by him and the strength of his case. I was compelled to help him fight what I saw as a tragic injustice which could otherwise see him spend the rest of his life in prison.

“It took two years to bring the petition to a hearing. Our research was complicated by the fact that three decades had passed since the crime, so it was difficult to find witnesses.

“We asked some of the world’s leading experts in forensic odontology to review the case and they readily agreed to provide affidavits supporting our conclusion that the bite mark evidence was inherently unreliable.

“They also agreed that admitting that evidence in Tyrone’s original trial deprived him of his Constitutional right to due process.”

The team partnered with the Innocence Project, a New York-based agency that helps people who have been wrongly convicted.

Others who worked on the case alongside Matt included Chicago Associate Mara Klebaner.

Matt says: “We requested an evidentiary hearing, which was scheduled for February 2021. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which had sought Tyrone’s conviction, offered to release him from jail on the basis of time served, subject to an agreement that Tyrone would plead guilty to a lesser crime.”

The hearing was held over Zoom during Covid-19 lockdown, but that didn’t lessen the emotional impact of the judge’s decision.

Matt says: “When Judge Claps made it clear he was going to set Tyrone free, Tyrone had the reaction you would expect, he was very emotional, and full of gratitude and relief.

“It was one of the most satisfying moments of my legal career to see justice done for such a deserving client. I was humbled to be able to play my part in his release.”

Since his release on 8 April, Tyrone has been getting used to his newfound freedom at the age of 58. He is living with his brother in the suburbs of Chicago and recently got a job at a local grocery store.

Matt says: “Obviously the world has changed dramatically since 1987, when there was no internet or smartphones, but Tyrone is adjusting step by step and has a positive attitude.

“He’s called me several times and is incredibly grateful to us and to White & Case for believing in him and fighting his case.

“I’m also hugely appreciative of the support the Firm gave me in agreeing to let me continue working pro bono on the case when I lateralled over to White & Case in August 2020.”

Tyrone adds: “I’ll never get back the years I spent in prison, but my family stuck with me throughout.

“The hardest part is that my parents and sister passed away while I was in there and it was devastating not being able to attend their funerals or to speak to anyone about my grief, because people on the inside take it as a sign of weakness.

“But I’m so thankful to Matt for taking up my case. He’s a very trustworthy lawyer and I have a lot of respect for him. I appreciated everything he did for me.

“Now I just want to live my life, enjoy my family and any time I have left. Every step I take now is a blessing, because being released from prison was what I’d prayed for all those years.

“I’m just so grateful and thankful for my freedom and I wouldn’t be here without the support of Matt and White & Case.”