![Thomas Raynard James, man wrongfully convicted for 3 decades, on his release: "I never stopped believing it would happen"](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/04/27/ef98a88b-ce34-4f0d-9c21-8a7dd94b5f7a/thumbnail/1200x630/e0ffcacf7e3fc021c71cd84608c69142/james.jpg)
Thomas Raynard James, man wrongfully convicted for 3 decades, on his release: "I never stopped believing it would happen"
CBSN
Thomas Raynard James is a free man after spending more than 30 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. He walked out of a Florida prison on Wednesday, and sat down with CBS Miami's Kendis Gibson the following day to talk about life as a prisoner, and what's changed since he was incarcerated.
"I never stopped believing it would happen," he told Gibson, speaking of his release.
James learned he would be freed on Tuesday night, and he was out of prison less than 24 hours later. After hearing the news, James said he was at peace and able to sleep through the night that last night in prison. But first he spent a lot of time talking to fellow inmates and guards, telling them he was leaving.
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More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
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In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
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