A man who spent 20 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit spoke out for the first time Thursday after getting a $10 million settlement from Los Angeles County and he has a surprising new ally in his continuing fight for justice.
It was an extraordinary embrace between Franky Carrillo and Ed Sarpy.
Twenty years after Carrillo was convicted of killing Sarpy's brother, five years after witnesses recanted and the wrongful conviction was overturned, and Sarpy looked at Carrillo and said this:
"I don't have my blood brother but I've got another brother now."
NBC4's Colleen Williams spoke to Carrillo in 2012 after his 20 years behind bars. He had just begun studying at Loyola Marymount University.
Today he has a wife, and a 2 year old, and more news.
"My third child on the way as well," he said. "Great news happening in the last few months."
But even though Carrillo won a $10 million settlement from LA County, he says he's still worried that that many of the corrupt deputies that helped put him in prison for a murder he didn't commit are still working.
"I have forgiven but the reality is people need to be held accountable," he said.
But he appreciates that LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell saying in a statement, "On behalf of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, I extend our apology to Mr. Francisco Carrillo. Every defendant deserves due process under the law. It is unacceptable for any person to be improperly convicted of a crime."
"It meant a lot to me for someone in that position to apologize," he said.
Both he and Sarpy though are still waiting for one more piece of justice, to find the real killer of Sarpy's brother.
"Whether he knows it or not I went through this with him," said Ed Sarpy, the brother of the murder victim. "My thing is why just why did it have to go this way when it didn't."
Carrillo said he's now focused on getting released four more people in prison he believes were wrongfully convicted and on getting the death penalty in california abolished.
