Richard Jones (right) was freed from prison after researchers tracked down Ricky (left), and proved that eyewitness reports of a robbery were insufficient evidence. Photo / Kansas City Police
Richard Jones (right) was freed from prison after researchers tracked down Ricky (left), and proved that eyewitness reports of a robbery were insufficient evidence. Photo / Kansas City Police
An inmate at a Kansas prison has been released after 17 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, after researchers tracked down his lookalike.
Richard Anthony Jones was sent to prison for a robbery in 1999 in Roeland Park, Kansas.
There was no DNA evidence or fingerprints linking him to the crime scene, and at trial Jones said he was with his girlfriend and other family members in Kansas City on the day of the robbery.
But he was convicted on witness accounts, and sentenced to 19 years.
Jones said that he began to despair that he would ever be released from jail, after repeated efforts to appeal against his sentence.
"All my appeals had been denied. It has been a rough ride," he said.
In 2015 he told researchers from the Midwest Innocence Project, a group that aids wrongly convicted prisoners, about a man called Ricky he had heard about. Fellow inmates had told Jones he looked identical to Ricky.
Researchers finally managed to track Ricky down, and discovered that he lived within 15km of the crime scene.
"When I saw the picture of my double it all made sense to me," he said.
Jones' lawyers then showed the two men's photographs to the victim, two witnesses, and the prosecutor in the original case. None could tell the two apart.
A judge agreed and ordered that Jones be released, and the prisoner finally walked free on Thursday.
Ricky (left) and Richard Jones (right). Photo / Kansas City Police
His lawyers said Jones had presented enough evidence to show a "manifest injustice" under Kansas law.
"Jones was convicted solely on witness testimony that has been proven to be inherently flawed and unreliable."
Jones said finding a photo of the other man was a "needle in a haystack moment".
"I don't believe in luck, I believe I was blessed," Jones told the Kansas City Star.
No criminal case has been filed against his double, who gave evidence at Jones' robbery hearing and denied committing the crime.
A lawyer working on his case said the team were "floored by how much" Jones and his double looked alike.
Jones told the paper that he was now adjusting to life outside jail and was happy to be back with his children.
