WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Two men wrongly convicted meet for the first time

Two men wrongly convicted meet for the first time

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A man who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit is starting over. Edwin Chandler was cleared of manslaughter on Oct. 13, after serving nine years in prison and another five years probation in the 1993 death of store clerk Brenda Whitfield.

On Sunday, he attended church for the first time in nine years with another man who understands more than most the pain Chandler has endured.

Little things mean a lot to Edwin Chandler these days.

"My son is one, he just turned one last Tuesday," Chandler said with a smile. "He had the best birthday gift a one-year-old could ever have."

Stacey Patterson, Chandler's fiancee and the mother of his son, Arnell, says she's happy to be a part of fulfilling his dreams.

"I'm enjoying watching him learn," Patterson said. "This is one his dreams: he wanted a boy, he got what he wanted, so it's a blessing we're all together and able to come to church."

The family attended Harrods Creek Baptist Church on Sunday at the invitation of Pastor Kirk Bush. Chandler sat in the same row as William T. Gregory, who was wrongly convicted of rape in 1993.

"Both men had to endure the pain, the agony, the suffering of prison life for no cause of their own," Bush said in his sermon. "They had to deal with the abuse of the guards as well as some of the inmates."

Years after being exonerated and released, Gregory says he still has vivid memories of prison life.

"It's a long road back because when you walk out of that door you're still in prison, you still got those walls around you," Gregory said. "And then to try and break those walls down, it takes time. And I'm still going through it right now."

Chandler met Gregory for the first time at dinner Saturday night. Gregory says he was elated when he heard another wrongly convicted man had been freed, and he praised Chandler for not giving up.

"I felt excited," Gregory said. "That's exactly how I felt. I didn't give up."

Now Gregory is passing on what he's learned to someone else who needs it, and Chandler is more than grateful.

"Parents groom you to be grown in this world as a child," Chandler said as he stood next to Gregory. "When you're a child, they groom you up to be an adult. I know that I'm grown and I'm an adult now, but you know, it's like he's my big brother. And I appreciate it."

Chandler and Stacey are expecting another child in a few months.

Copyright 2009 WAVE-TV and Raycom Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.