NEW ORLEANS — For more than 30 years an innocent man was held behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. On Thursday he was released.

Sullivan Walter was convicted of forcible rape. He was arrested six weeks after the crime, and his arrest was based on one composite drawing of a photo lineup. Police didn’t once ask him for an alibi. At trial, he was found guilty based on witness testimony.

Mr. Walter said, “In 1986 I was falsely accused and tried and convicted for a rape that I didn’t commit.”

He went on to say, “The day of my sentencing was devastating…. From the time I was pronounced guilty it was devastating… I was devastated by the sentencing, I was devastated by being transported to the maximum security prison.”

He spent 12 years in Angola, and the rest of his time was spent in Elayn Hunt Correctional Center.