'I've always had hope.' Rochester man wrongfully imprisoned for decades speaks out
Inmate 85C0181 woke at 3:21 a.m. Tuesday inside his cell in Attica Correctional Facility.
He couldn't sleep. This was the day.
He gathered his things, sorting those he would take and those he would leave. He chatted with a neighbor, did his morning exercises and his morning prayers, then turned on the radio and waited for the bus to come.
"I was ready to go," he said. "It took a while, but I was ready to go."
Eleven hours later, 62-year-old Michael Rhynes, his head freshly shaved and his gray goatee neatly trimmed, left the prison a free man.
Rhynes was released from prison Tuesday after 37 years served on a wrongful conviction. Two men lied at his trial to place him at the scene of the crime, but they recanted under oath earlier this year and State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Miller ruled last week that it was enough to vacate his sentence of 52 years to life.
When Miller said the magic words — "Very well, Mr. Rhynes is released on his own recognizance" — Rhynes thanked him briefly but had no immediate visible reaction. Behind him his sister Petronia Rhynes and his daughter Michelle Miller burst into tears.
"When I got there, (I thought): 'Am I here?'" he said. "Looking at the judge, the law clerk. It’s like, this is really happening. Oh wow. Finally."
Rhynes' attorneys hoped he would be discharged directly from the courtroom, where half a dozen of his supporters had gathered. Instead it turned out he needed to ride back to Attica to collect his belongings, settle his accounts and formally process out.
It wasn't until about 2:30 p.m. that he finally emerged from the prison's imposing front gate, above which a holiday wreath had been hung. His sister and daughter could not make the trip out, so he got into a car with two of his lawyers, Robert Grossman and Pierre Sussman.
His first destination as a free man was the Verizon store in Le Roy, where he bought a cell phone, something that barely existed when he was first imprisoned in 1984.
Rhynes then went with his lawyers and a few friends to the Original Red Osier Restaurant in Stafford, Genesee County, for his first meal outside prison.
The restaurant was slathered inside and out with Christmas decorations. Cars pulled over on Route 5 to take photos of the spectacularly campy lights glowing and flashing throughout the property. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" played on the radio.
Before he sat down to eat, Rhynes changed out of his beige prison uniform and into a new suit his friends bought for him — a checkered sport coat, the sleeves a touch long, with a crisp white shirt and dark pants.
"I'm just happy to be out," he said. "I don't really know — it's so many things. I don't know what to do first."
The first thing to do was to decide what to eat. This was a once-in-a-lifetime meal, one he'd dreamed of eating for decades and one he likely will never forget.
The server arrived, pad in hand. Rhynes did not miss his chance.
Prime rib, cooked medium. A lobster pot. Caesar salad. Sides of sautéed mushrooms and sweet potato mash. A ginger ale.
"It was a beautiful thing," his attorney, Sussman, said.
Rhynes will stay with friends in the Rochester area for the time being. He has to sign up for health care and other social services and learn how to use his cell phone.
He has maintained his innocence from the day of his arrest and filed numerous appeals over the years, some with the assistance of attorneys and some on his own. None of them got him any closer to freedom, but Rhynes said Tuesday that he always believed he would leave prison one day.
"I've always had hope," he said. "I had those ebbs and flows, but my optimism never wavered.
"What else was there? You're living on hope."
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Michael Rhynes speaks out after being wrongfully imprisoned for decades
