How a Photograph Helped Free a Detroit Barber After 37 Years Behind Bars: 'I Want to Get Back to Work'

In an interview with PEOPLE, Paul Clark Jr.’s lawyer talks about what is next for the man who has spent more than half his life behind bars

Paul Clark, Jr. spent nearly four decades in prison for a first-degree murder conviction thrown out by a Michigan circuit court judge this spring.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said this week they will not retry the case.

“Paul is a walking reminder of what it means to be free. Throughout his wrongful incarceration, he was fighting for his innocence, and finally he was heard,” one of his lawyers, Shereef Hadi Akeel, tells PEOPLE, adding: “Paul’s freedom is a testament to his innocence and a relief for his family.”

While behind bars, the 57-year-old worked as a barber, according to Akeel. “He will try to pursue this.”

Clark says he’s ready to “get back to work.”

“I’ve been cutting hair all my life,” he told the Associated Press in an interview. “I want to get back in the barber shop.”

He added: “I want to get my life started back up.”

In 1987, Clark was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Trifu Vasilije, which took place during an attempted robbery in Highland Park, an enclave of Detroit, according to his online court docket and a summary of the case confirmed by his lawyer. Vasilije was found dead, a knife in his hand in apparent self-defense.

Clark began filing a series of appeals – which all failed – starting the next year, according to a partial procedural history of the case, provided to PEOPLE by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Then, in 2020, the prosecutor’s office found a mug shot of a man who had been arrested in a similar neighborhood homicide the same year as Vasilije’s murder, Akeel confirms to PEOPLE. In the mugshot – which Clark’s lawyer had not been provided during the trial – the man had a large scar crossing his face.

Michigan 3rd Circuit Court Judge Mark Slavens – who granted relief of a new trial in the case in April, per the online court docket – said at the time that the mugshot was evidence compelling enough to have potentially raised doubt among jurors had they seen the photograph, according to Akeel.

On May 23, Clark was released from prison “based on his conviction being reversed by the court,” Kyle Kaminski of Michigan Department of Corrections confirms to PEOPLE.

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Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that while her office will not retry the case –  “due to the age of the case, the difficulties of trying to put the case together again, and the new evidence that raised a potential reasonable doubt as to Mr. Clark’s guilt” – her office “would not categorize this case as an exoneration.”

Worthy's office has moved to dismiss the charges against Clark, she said, and Slavens dismissed the case in its entirety on Tuesday, July 23, per the online court docket. (The jury trial – set for Sept. 11 – has been canceled.)

When Clark was first incarcerated, his son was a toddler and his daughter was a month away from being born.

“So much was taken away from him,” Akeel says, noting that Clark’s mother was “his strongest supporter” who “kept vouching for his innocence” and had died before he was released.

Clark was barred from attending her funeral, according to Akeel.

Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Clark celebrated with close family members, who embraced in a group circle.

“Paul is taking one step at a time,” says Akeel. “Being locked up for 37 years, he needs to take baby steps to transition into society.”

Akeel says they are now pursuing “a civil rights action to vindicate his rights.”

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