Today it's in Missouri-- Lonnie Erby was freed from jail after serving 17 years of a 115 year sentence for crimes he didn't commit. He is now 49 years old. DNA evidence was not available at the time of his conviction. Thanks to the perserverence of The Innocence Project, DNA testing finally was done. Someone else --not Lonnie--raped three young girls....and got away with it.

Nationally, more than 300 men and women have been exonerated of crimes and released from prison as the result of DNA testing, the Innocence Project said. Testing has confirmed the guilt of some other inmates.

How do the exonerated fit back in society after so many years? With great difficulty. There's a new organization to help--the Life After Exoneration Program. They welcome contributions.

Exoneration ends the struggle of many men and women who have fought for years to prove their innocence. But it begins their struggle to survive on the outside. That struggle includes virtually every aspect of life - a job, a place to live, financial resources, a support system, and access to medical, psychological, and dental care. Because no services are provided to exonerees, they must face these overwhelming challenges alone. Many do not succeed. The Life After Exoneration Program was created to address the on-going injustices exonerees suffer in the aftermath of their release. Begun in 2003, LAEP is a nationwide project that appreciates the unique challenges facing the exonerated and provides services and resources to help this growing community of survivors of wrongful conviction re-enter society and rebuild their lives.

The program was started by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-directors of the Innocence Project and Dr. Laurie Lola Vollen of the University of California, Berkeley. It is a non-profit project of the Tides Center.