Davontae Sanford: 'Just wants to move on' after prison release for murders he did not commit

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Davontae Sanford

It is the moment Tamika Sanford prayed for but never thought would come.

She hasn't been able to wrap her arms around her son Davontae for more than eight years after he was wrongly convicted for a quadruple murder at a drug house in Detroit.

Davontae Sanford was locked up at just 14 years old, but on Wednesday he walked out of prison and came home to his family - a free man.

FOX 2: "What's it like being home?"

"Good, it is wonderful actually," Davontae said. "It feels wonderful."
 

FOX 2: "How you doing mom?"

"Oh no, oh my God," Tamika said. "I don't know."

His grandma, brothers, sisters, mom and dad all eagerly waited outside the family's east side Detroit home and tearfully embraced the 23-year-old.

Davontae's attorneys and younger brother Deshon Davis drove him home from the Ionia Correctional Facility.

"As soon as I saw him I hugged him, I cried," Davis said. "It was like unbelievable for me. I am just glad he is home."

"I feel great - it is unexplainable," said his sister, Deshonda Davis. "It just doesn't feel real. I never thought this day would come. I'm just so happy, it's the best day of my life."

"It hurts but it's joy unspeakable," said Rev. W.J. Rideout II. "Because this young man suffered for nine long years which he never had done since the beginning of time. I am happy justice has been served."

"He was just staring out the window," his mother said. "I say you okay, he said 'Mama I never thought this day was coming.' He just looked out the window.

"He doesn't even believe it."

FOX 2: "Do you believe it?"

"Not right now maybe when I can go to sleep, wake up and cook breakfast for him I will," she said.

The last eight  years has not been easy for Davontae or his family. His mother says her innocent son was forced to grow up in prison, missing everything from prom and graduation, to the birth of his nephew and the death of his grandmother.

But instead of being angry, this family, especially Davontae, has chosen to focus on the future.

"I just want to put this behind me and move on my life," he said. "And move forward with my family, you know take it one step at a time, one day at a time and go from there."

Thursday morning, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will hold a press conference about Davontae's wrongful conviction. Stay with FOX 2 for coverage of it both on air and online.