After serving 30 years in federal prison, two North Carolina men have been released after a judge overturns their conviction on the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

On Tuesday, half-brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown earned their freedom after another man's DNA was found in a cigarette butt discovered near the victim's body.

Like Us on Facebook

According to Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser, the DNA results contradicted the case presented by prosecutors against the brothers who are, in fact, innocent based on the relevant new proof.

Relatives of the two breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the judge's decision.

"We waited years and years. We kept the faith," James McCollum, Henry's father, told the Associated Press.

Lawyers of the two have lobbied for their release as recent probe on the evidence proved another person guilty for 11-year-old Sabrina Buie's gruesome death.

In 1983, the girl was found half naked near Red Springs, North Carolina, where she was raped and murdered.

A few weeks later, McCollum and Brown were taken into police custody. Then 19-year-old Henry McCollum confessed to the crime after a five-hour rigorous interrogation session without the presence of a legal counsel or a family member.

His brother, who was 15 years old at the time, have also agreed to the confession and signed the documents presented by the police.

Regretting their admissions later, the two declared that the confessions were taken from them by force.

However, in spite of minimal evidence on the case, the two were found guilty of the crime and had been given the death sentence.

They waited in the death row for three decades for something to turn the odds around while maintaining their stand at innocence.

After years of filing numerous appeals, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission sought their case and found out about the lack of legal counseling.

New evidence probed later revealed the brothers' innocence by identifying the real culprit, 74-year-old Roscoe Artis, who lived near the scene where the girl's body was found.

TagsNorth Carolina, Judge, overturn, convict, death row, 30 years, rape-murder