David McCallum had only been 16 years old when he confessed to the murder of a Queens man in Oct. 1985. Based on his own admission, he and a friend killed the victim and abandoned the body in a Brooklyn Park. On Wednesday, however, the indictment against both men were dismissed by a Brooklyn Superior Court judge.

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In what could definitely be considered a long and tumultuous wait, McCallum's cry for innocence on the death of the death of the 20-year-old Nathan Blenner has finally been heard when Judge Matthew J. D'Emic overturned the decision earlier made on the guilt of both men accused.

The relief and happiness McCallum felt, however, was incomplete.

"This is a bittersweet moment because I'm walking out alone," McCallum stated as he stepped out of the world as a free man after almost 29 years of imprisonment.

"There's someone else who's supposed to be walking out with me but unfortunately he's not, and that's Willie Stuckey," he shared.

The other teenager charged with the kidnapping and killing of Blenner was Stuckey. Unfortunately, McCallum's friend passed away in prison in 2001.

McCallum's ordeal began on Oct. 16, 1985 when the body of Blenner was discovered by authorities abandoned in Aberdeen Park. Medical examination of the victim revealed that his death was caused by a single bullet wound to the head.

Throughout the investigation, the officers had no other evidence linking the two teenage suspects to the crime except for a video recorded confession made by the pair upon arrest. With the strength of the statements uttered in the footage, both McCallum and Stuckey were convicted for murder, kidnapping, robbery, and weapons possessions.

In re-reviewing the case, however, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson revealed that the two boys may have been forced to confess to the said crimes by the detectives handling the case at that time. Thompson further pointed out that this instance is just a part of the "legacy of disgrace" he was left with from Charles Hynes.

"I don't know how else to describe that," Thompson shared with respect to McCallum's case. "I think the people of Brooklyn deserve better, and I think we should not have a national reputation as a place where people have been railroaded into confessing to crimes they did not commit," he added.

McCallum's plight is one of the numerous cases currently under investigation by the newly formed Conviction Review Unit.

TagsDavid McCallum, Hurricane Carter, Brooklyn, Murder, Robbery, slaying, death, Nathan Blenner, queens