Arrested at 13 for a murder he didn't commit, Thaddeus Jimenez spent more than 16 years in jail before his conviction was tossed out and the man originally fingered for the crime was arrested.
Jimenez is believed to be the youngest person convicted of a crime who has been exonerated in the United States.
He was tried as an adult and sentenced to 45 years in jail -- despite the fact that an alleged accomplice in the murder insisted that another teen been the shooter and that police were provided with a tape in which that teen confessed.
According to news reports, prosecutors have charged Juan Carlos Torres, mpw 30, with the murder, and have filed papers for his extradition from Indiana, where he now resides.
Meanwhile, Jimenez, also 30, who went to prison baredly in his teens, returned to his mother's arms Friday a grown man.
"Oh my God I can't believe it. I can't believe he's here," Victoria Jimenez sobbed as she wrapped her arms around her son.
Jimenez clutched a piece of paper as he walked up to a podium in Chicago Monday to thank his family and his lawyers for working so hard to get him free.
"You'll have to excuse me if I fumble some of my words. I'm a little bit nervous," he told reporters.
"I'm happy to be alive today," he said as his mother wiped tears from her eyes and clutched his sister's hand.
"There are many more innocent men, women and children still in prison today. I hope my case can be studied and used to prevent other defendants -- especially juveniles -- from having to endure what I had to endure."
