Two men who were sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences over a 2004 shooting and who spent almost 17 years in prison were declared innocent and wrongfully convicted Thursday by a California judge. Dupree Glass and Juan Rayford are expected to receive approximately $900,000 after a new law requires the state to pay $140 per day per wrongful conviction. The actual shooter—gang member Chad Brandon McZeal, who is serving a life sentence over a separate case—admitted his guilt in what the Associated Press described as a “dramatic” courtroom confession. Glass and Rayford reportedly hugged each other after the judge’s ruling and were cheered outside the courthouse. “I thought about this day for so long. I thought about it when I was locked up for 17 years... I waited for this day because, you know, I knew I was innocent of every crime they said I committed,” Rayford said. The shooting involved an altercation between a group of teens in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles. While two people were hit, the injuries were not serious, Associated Press said. Glass, then 17, and Rayford, then 18, were convicted of 11 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences.
