Freed by Innocence Project, former Oklahoma State star Darrell Williams this year's least-known comeback story

Story here. Excerpt:

'He went from convicted rapist to Innocence Project exoneree. He went 33 months between games, departing as an Oklahoma State starter and reemerging in NCAA Division II anonymity. He’s come from hopelessness to this new beginning.

“Going from being behind bars to being here, just being in a locker room, humbles me and makes me appreciate everything,” he says.
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With the help of the Chicago Innocence Project, Williams’ attorney had submitted seven grounds of appeal. The court only ruled on the first one — that at least two jurors had visited the scene of the party and discussed what they saw with other jurors — grounds for a mistrial.

Now the question was whether prosecutors would retry the case. On June 16, D.A. Lee released a statement saying he was dropping charges because the victims did not want to endure the trauma of retestifying.

Oklahoma media outlets attempted to interview Lee after the announcement, but he declined to comment. Tontz resigned in February 2013 and went into private practice. Lee retired last December. His successor, Laura Austin Thomas, did not respond to an interview request from The News.

“Before you destroy a young person’s life, you’ve got to be sure you’ve got all the facts right,” Protess says. “And Tom Lee and his very ambitious assistant D.A., who’s now left under a cloud, did not have the facts right.

“Not only did they go ahead anyway and prosecute the case, but they’re failing to do the honorable thing by admitting they were wrong.”'