Wrongly convicted for 35 years, Bain gets release from prison

Jamie Bernard Bain, free of steel bars and having to stare at the outside world through chain link and concertina wire, stood outside the Polk County Courthouse this morning, wrapped in the warmth of freedom.

Out of custody for the first time in 35 years, the Lake Wales man had been wrongly convicted. Genetic evidence - unavailable when Bain was tried in 1974 - was tested three decades after a 9-year-old boy said he was raped, and it showed Bain to be innocent.

"He was just not connected to this particular incident," said Polk State Attorney Jerry Hill.

Relatives and friends greeted Bain as he walked down the steps of the courthouse. They cheered, clapped and wept.

Bain, who wore a black Innocence Project T-shirt that said "Not Guilty" in big red and white letters, did not appear to shed a tear. He was relieved. He was not angry. He was not bitter. He held no grudges. God will take care of him, he said, and He will deal with the real rapist, wherever he is.

A family member handed him a device and Bain gingerly took hold of it. On a tiny speaker, his mother's voice asked about him; told him to hurry home, that she was waiting for him. Bain looked around for help. He had never used a cell phone before.

Someone showed him which end to hold to his ear. "Hurry up and come home," his mother said.

A half-hour earlier, 35 years of wrong was set right in a tiny courtroom on the ninth floor of the Polk County Courthouse when Circuit Judge James A. Yancey signed orders vacating Bain's 1974 judgment and conviction.

"Mr. Bain, I'm now signing the order," the judge said from the bench. "Sir, you are a free man. Congratulations."

The courtroom erupted in cheers and applause. Bain seemed awed, later saying it was "like landing on the moon." He grinned and nodded at rows of family, friends and supporters. He hugged his attorneys, including Project Innocence Florida Executive Director Seth Miller, who a few minutes earlier had said, "We have no objection," when the judge announced his intention to sign the paperwork that would free the 54-year-old Bain.

Outside the courtroom, the soft-spoken Bain, with more than a sprinkling of white in his short beard and close-cropped hair, was reticent with the media mob.

"Hello," he said, stepping up to the lectern, clogged with microphones. "My name is Jamie Bain."

He was asked how he felt, now that he was a free man after 3 1/2 decades of incarceration.

"Fine."

"Did you ever think this day would happen?" shouted a reporter.

"Nope."

"How did you get through this?"

"One day at a time."

"How were you able to keep a bright outlook?"

"By watching "Titanic."

That struck a cord with everyone.

He said he has no immediate plans for the future, although he does want to go back to school, to learn better reading and writing skills. Other than that he hasn't thought much about it.

"I'm just going to leave up to the Lord," he said.

He said there are others in prison wrongly convicted and offered support for them. He said all those years of filing his own motions all of which were denied, paid off when the Innocence Project stepped in.

Now, the organization stands ready to help assimilate Bain back into society, through counseling and whatever else is needed to help, "realize your dreams," Miller said, looking at Bain, "and enjoy the rest of the days you have on this earth."

Miller said nothing can give back the 35 years taken from Bain.

"But today," Miller said, "is a day of renewal."

Miller carried a plastic bag as he followed Bain out into world without restraints.

The attorney pulled out plastic bottles of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew.

"In the free world," Miller told Bain, as the newly freed man reached for the Mountain Dew, "you have choices."

The questioners fell quiet and the chat with strangers was over. It was time for Bain to leave.

"The main thing," he said, "is to get back to my mom."