Who can blame him? Michael McAllister walks out of prison in Virginia Wednesday after serving 18 years for an attempted rape that the detective and prosecutor in his case later said he probably didn't commit. But, under Virginia's 21 day law, requiring new evidence other than DNA to be brought within 21 days of sentencing, McAllister had no chance of making his innocence case. At the time he was sentenced, his crime was parole-eligible, and his mandatory release date is finally here.

The case spotlights a growing national debate over faulty eyewitness identifications. DNA testing has cleared numerous prisoners nationwide, and mistaken eyewitness testimony has been blamed for most of the errors. Vanessa Potkin, a staff attorney with the New York-based Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate wrongly convicted people through DNA evidence, said McAlister's case is particularly egregious. "It's extremely rare what this prosecutor and detective did in coming forward, and the fact that you would have people ignoring this evidence or turning a blind eye is extremely troubling."

McAllister's thoughts?