Two men from Dallas were released on Tuesday 28 after serving 15 years for a murder new evidence proves they did not commit, according to an advisory from the Innocence Project.
The organization said Dennis Lee Allen and Stanley Orson Mozee stood before Judge Mark Stoltz at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in the 100 Block of North Riverfront Boulevard Tuesday morning. Judge Stoltz issued an order seeking to overturn the murder convictions of the two men.
Allen and Mozee served 15 years for the 1999 murder of Rev. Jesse Borns, Jr. The advisory said that DNA and previously withheld evidence point to their innocence.
Both men said they were not angry.
"I have tried to stay positive the entire time I was in prison. The entire ordeal, I never allowed it to consume me with anger or hatred. I stayed positive," said Allen.
"I knew the truth would come to light," added Mozee.
Allen hugged his 90-year-old grandmother, while Mozee put his arm around his daughter. She was 18 when he went to prison. Now, she is 33.
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"I am happy to have my dad again. I feel like this is an opportunity for us to have a second chance. We are going to do what we need to do to make it right, and live our lives and just be father and daughter again," said Latonya Mozee.
The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization that exonerates wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. The organization has petitioned for the release of the two men due to results from recent DNA testing on evidence from the scene. They said there was also "serious prosecutorial misconduct" in the prosecutor's original file.
NBC 5's Julie Fine contributed to this story.
