Man in Overturned Murder Conviction Case Looks Forward to Freedom

After 27 years in prison, Frank O’Connell is finding that coming back to the world he left when he was convicted of murder in 1984 is much like stepping into a time machine.

He was a tall, lean 27-year-old former football star when a judge sentenced him to 25 years to life (plus an additional two years for use of a weapon). But after a judge , O’Connell, now 54, is looking forward to acclimating back to society.

“We love having him back,” his sister Annajean Arbogast told Patch. “”But you have to realize that life has changed. Families have changed. The simple things we take for granted are all so new now.”

There’s O’Connell’s son, Nick O’Connell, who was just 4 years old the last time he saw his father a free man. The boy is now a 31-year-old man just as tall as his father.

There’s also the younger sister, just a little girl when her older brother was sentenced to prison, who finds it difficult to adjust seeing her brother outside of jail walls.

“The reality of this system is hard to swallow,” said Arbogast. “After 27 years, they literally set you out the door with no ID, no money. No wonder so many [former prisoners] go back in.”

However, Arbogast said O’Connell has the support of his family and friends, not just in Glendora, but throughout the state helping him with the transition.

Convicted in 1984

In 1984, O’Connell was convicted of murdering 27-year-old Jay French in South Pasadena, a crime O’Connell always maintained he never committed. At the time, Sheriff’s deputies focused their investigation on O’Connell because he was involved romantically with French’s ex-wife. French had been embroiled in a child custody case with his ex-wife, according to the Huffington Post.

Twelve years ago, Centurion Ministries, a nonprofit dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions, took on O’Connell’s case, which was largely based on eyewitness testimony.

Last month, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge threw out O’Connell’s conviction, finding several issues with the original trial she said entitled O’Connell to a new trial–including a key witness in the case who later recanted his testimony.

"This should have never happened to him, and it's a tragedy on so many fronts," Kate Germond, Centurion Ministries’ lead investigator on the case, told the Huffington Post. "We're going to fight with him all the way to the end, until he's free of all charges.”

Until then, O’Connell’s family is eager to get back to living life with him back in it.

Arbogast said in between fielding media requests and meeting with lawyers to discuss next legal action, O’Connell, his sisters and his mother are planning private time to visit the grave of his father who passed away before seeing his son a free man.

“Traditions have changed, some things you can’t replace,” said Arbogast. “But as Frank continues to say, “The past can’t be changed. I can only look forward to the future.”