COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Derris Lewis is a free man, but wasn’t an easy road for his defense team as they worked to get him out of what could have been a life sentence.
Click here to watch NBC 4's exclusive interview with Derris Lewis and his mother on his first night of freedom.
Derris sat in the Franklin County Jail for 18 months, accused of his identical twin brother’s murder.
NBC 4 talked with two of the defense investigators after officials said they are dismissing all charges against Derris in Dennis Lewis’ fatal shooting.
“I knew he didn't do it as soon as I met him,” Teresa Edwards said.
Much of the prosecution’s case centered on what police identified as a bloody palm print on a wall at the murder scene.
That was before Edwards interviewed more than 50 witnesses and started studying the key piece of evidence: what police identified as a bloody palm print belonging to Dennis. Above that print was a mark left by Derris.
“It was just a small portion of a palm print, just a couple three inches above where this bloody transfer was,” Bob Britt said.
Britt is an investigator and a retired homicide detective.
He said crime-scene analysts use a chemical enhancer called Amido Black that brings out prints.
Derris’ particular print was never tested to be identified as definitive blood.
“Very, very frustrating. We knew that because the palm print hadn't been tested, they didn't have evidence that he was there. Although throughout the complete trial, they continued to call it a bloody palm print. When it was never tested for blood, it was just a palm print,” Edwards said.
Edwards said since the day of his arrest, Derris insisted he didn't kill the brother he loved.
“He knew that he wasn’t there. Throughout my conversations with Derris at the jail and through letters, he seemed confident that there would be a resolution because there was a reason for it all. He is very religious, and he told me he was supposed to learn something from all of this but he was just trying to figure out what it is.”
Possibly, it was a lesson perseverance and faith.
Britt witnessed the testing of Derris’ print.
There was no blood.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said that means there is no case.
“We have no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Derris Lewis was responsible,” O’Brien said.
Britt said he blames the mistake on a lack of communication. He said he does not believe there was any malice on the part of police investigators.
“The key thing is that you want to get the right person charged, and hopefully we'll find out who actually did the homicide,” Britt said.
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