Tulsa Men Released After 20+ Years In Prison Enjoy New Freedom

Two Tulsa men, who spent more than 20 years behind bars for murder, are exploring a whole new world after a judge ordered them freed.

Malcolm Scott and De'Marchoe Carpenter said freedom has been a long time coming, and they're enjoying this new chapter of their lives.

"Relief...you know, to finally reach what we've been fighting for, for over 21 years," Scott said.

He and Carpenter are back in the free world after more than two decades behind bars, convicted of murder.

They've claimed innocence for years, and a judge agreed after seeing new evidence from the Oklahoma Innocence Project at Oklahoma City University School of Law.

5/9/2016 Related Story: Two Oklahoma Inmates Found Innocent 20+ Years After Murder Conviction

"If you don't believe, you might as well give up. You might as well kill yourself. And so you have to believe," said Carpenter.

Scott said, "I mean, over the years I've run across many guys, you know, who have been fighting for many years for their freedom, you know, for a second chance in life, but they never get it."

Released Monday, Scott and Carpenter are getting used to a completely different world from what they knew in 1994.

5/9/2016 Related Story: Tulsa Men Freed After 21 Years In Prison, Not Bitter About The Past

"I just see a wonderful wonderland of cereal and I just froze, right? And I'm just like 'when did those come out, when did those come out, how long have they been selling those, are those good,'" Scott said.

You'd think their time in prison would sour them against the justice system, but the men don't know where they'd be without it.

Carpenter said, "Who's to say I'd still be living if I had not got locked up? You know, some people look at it like that, but I'm here now so I'm having a ball."

Carpenter wrote a book while in prison called Buried Alive and he hopes to have it out soon.

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