The two men even share the same first name
17 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Since being found guilty in 1999 of aggravated robbery in Roeland Park, Kansas City, Richard Anthony Jones had always maintained his innocence.
There was no DNA, fingerprint or any other kind of physical evidence linking Jones to the crime. Only the testimony of eyewitnesses.
At the time, the victim and one other witness declared with utmost certainty that Jones was the perpetrator.
Jones had protested that he had been with his girlfriend and family on the day of the robbery, but his alibi didn't convince the judge. Jones was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in jail and all his appeals were refused.
While in jail, Jones kept hearing about another prisoner who looked just like him. Not only did they look alike physically, but they shared the same first name, though the other man went by 'Ricky'.
Jones didn't find his double, but he informed his lawyers who investigated the matter further. They found photos of Ricky and eventually discovered that he lived near the area where the crime had been committed, whereas Jones lived across the state line in Kansas City.
Last Wednesday, Jones and his lawyers made their case to a Johnson County Judge. At the hearing, witnesses, including the victim, testified that looking at the photos of the two men, they could no longer say if Jones was the perpetrator. And although the other man has denied that he was the one who committed the robbery, Judge Kevin Moriarty ordered Jones' release.
'We were floored by how much they looked alike,' said Jones’ attorney, Alice Craig.
Jones became the prime suspect of the investigation after his picture was picked out of a police database three months after the crime by a man who admitted to being on drugs during his encounter with Jones.
During his incarceration, Jones was angry and bitter about being in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but when he saw the picture of the other man, he understood how the witnesses could have been mistaken.
'Everybody has a doppelganger,' Craig said. 'Luckily we found his.'
A GoFundMe page is raising funds to help Jones rebuild his life as a free man.
[Via Kansas City Star]
