Police, Lewis Speak Out About Handprint, Future

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After spending more than a year behind bars, Derris Lewis, the teenager once accused of killing his twin brother, is home.

Now, Lewis is speaking out about the police mistake that could have put him in prison for life.

Click here to watch NBC 4's exclusive interview with Derris Lewis and his mother on his first night of freedom.

"They knew they had the wrong person since the beginning, I believe, and they didn't want this, but they were in the wrong since the beginning. I will forgive, but I won't forget," Lewis said.

All charges against Lewis were dropped Thursday after it was revealed that a bloody handprint found on the wall of the Lewis home was not blood after all.

Derris was previously accused of killing his twin brother, Dennis Lewis. The case went to trial, but a mistrial was declared and after Thursday's evidence, Derris was released from jail.

Now, the question is: "How could this happen?"

"Is there any embarrassment?" NBC 4's Marcus Thorpe asked police.

"At this time, there is not embarrassment because, again, we followed the evidence we had at the time. We could not do the test for blood on the print without obliterating the evidence," said Commander Mary Mathias, of Columbus police.

Police said they waited until the defense and prosecution approved the testing for blood.

"There was a risk. We had to meet with Derris. We had to consult with our examiners and our experts and say, 'Look, if I test this and it comes back as blood, that's going to be worse for us.' So he took that risk. I went to Derris and he said, 'It's not my print in blood. Let's test it and let's get this thing moving,'" said Adam Nemann, Lewis' attorney.

The Lewis attorney team said the problem came in the police communication during the first weeks of the investigation.

"You have three different people look at evidence in three different ways and not getting together and discussing where the print came from and what it is actually in," Nemann said.

There is an open investigation on that miscommunication within the police department. Police said they will focus on communication, not the process of collecting evidence.

"What do you need to find out to make sure something like this doesn't happen again?" Thorpe asked.

"Again, at this point, after preliminary review, we don't think that there was a mistake made in that regard. There may have been minor (mis)communication. We need to get to the bottom of that and we will," Mathias said.

Dennis Lewis died trying to protect their mother and Derris said he still has no idea who's responsible.

"It's not just a random thing in a bad neighborhood because we were always good kids in a bad neighborhood. Even through the poverty, we still managed to rise to the top and we continued to do that because of my mother and the strength that God has given us," Derris said.

"Whoever knows us personally knows that this isn't something that Derris or Dennis would do. You know, we were always "A" students. That's what we did. We got good grades, participated in sports and did what we could do and we got part-time jobs and we got that from my mother."

Derris said his faith sustained him through 18 months of wrongful incarceration.

"Through prayer, I believe that's what helped. Tremendously. Staying focused throughout the whole thing continuously and staying focused on one thing, I give honor to God continuously and that's who gave me my strength," he said.

But there is also an undercurrent of anger for the 18 months he lost -- for the police who he said made a dreadful mistake.

"It was a bad investigation from the start, so I want you to know that. The evidence clearly shows -- it clearly shows that they made a big mistake and again, I knew that from the get-go," Derris said.

Now, he's ready to plan for his future. He missed his high school graduation.

"I will be getting my diploma August 15 and most of my scholarships are reinstated back to me," he said.

But has he looks to the future, Derris is not willing to let go of his past. He hinted at a lawsuit against the police who he said jailed him with flawed evidence.

Derris spent part of his first night of freedom visiting his brother's grave and said he will devote his life to finding his brother's killer.

"They will find who did this and if they don't, I will. As far as going into law school and being a detective, I will find who did this if it takes me way down in years. I will. I will find out," he said.

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