It's the result of a wrongful conviction that a Philadelphia judge overturned on Tuesday, ruling that David Dickson Jr. will be released from custody.
"I'm just happy that it's over and he'll be returning home. I just can't hold back the tears," said his brother, Kevin Dickson.
"He's innocent. He's really innocent. He didn't commit this crime," added another brother, Michael Avery.
Dickson had been sentenced to life without parole for the 1984 murder of Deborah Wilson, a Drexel University student who was found strangled inside a building on campus.
Dickson, who was a security guard at Drexel at the time, was convicted using the testimony of an informant named John Hall. In recent years, it's been discovered that Hall lied in this case and others.
The nonprofit law practice Phillips Black filed a petition to get the conviction overturned.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office agreed that the testimony was false and reached a plea agreement.
After more than three decades in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit, the 65-year-old will now return home.
Dickson's lawyer says in an effort to get him out sooner, due to his health, Dickson entered what's known as an Alford Plea. That's when a defendant maintains his innocence but acknowledges the prosecution does have enough evidence for a possible conviction.
That plea involved a lesser charge of 3rd degree murder. The judge issued a sentence, which was covered by the time Dickson had already served.