Man freed after 26 years of unjust imprisonment
Reported by Paula McMahon for McClatchy:
Anthony Caravella walked out of the Broward County jail on Thursday a free man — at least temporarily — for the first time in close to 26 years.
"I can’t even tell you how excited I am. I think being free hasn’t really hit me yet,” Caravella told the Sun Sentinel. “It’s strange, everything is different.”
A judge ordered Caravella, 41, released after a recent test excluded him as the source of DNA found on the body of a Miramar woman he was convicted of raping and murdering in 1983. Broward prosecutors asked for him to be set free, for now, while they reinvestigate the case.
The last time Caravella was free, he was 15 years old, Ronald Reagan was serving his first presidential term, Michael Jackson’s Thriller album topped the charts and a gallon of gas cost $1.24.
His impressions after the 20-minute drive from jail to the Davie home where he’ll be living for the foreseeable future: People dress differently than in the 1980s, and traffic in Broward is much worse.
Being free after so long, it seemed, was intimidating and overwhelming.
He walks with his hands behind his back, a habit he picked up from being frequently handcuffed during incarceration. When a door opens, he stands by it, waiting to be told if it’s OK to enter. He’s worried he’ll get lost if he walks outside. He can’t quite believe that he can decide what to do, and when…
