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July 22, 2008

OXFORD, Miss. - Of the 18 years Levon Brooks spent wrongfully imprisoned at Parchman Penitentiary, three days were easy.

In March, an attorney called with news that sent Brooks' mind reeling. DNA evidence had proven what he and others had known since his arrest: He was innocent. After more than 6,000 days locked up without tangible hope of justice, a mere three days stood between Brooks and freedom. He used those days to make a list - a freedom list, a mental list of what he missed most.

"I couldn't begin to tell you all of the things on that list," Brooks said, with the grin that has seldom left his face since he was freed. "Seeing my mom, eating fish, going fishing, seeing my friends - so many things."

Brooks and Kenny Brewer, both of Noxubee County, are the first prisoners exonerated in Mississippi based on post-conviction DNA testing. Brooks was convicted in 1992 for the capital rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl. Brewer was convicted in 1995 of a remarkably similar crime in the same community less than 18 months after the murder for which Brooks was convicted. Interestingly, Brooks and Brewer knew each other growing up, and both know the man charged with both murders.

Read the entire story and watch video