NEW ORLEANS

Damon Thibodeaux received the ovation you'd expect of a man who's just been exonerated of a crime he didn't commit.

WGNO News Reporter Darian Trotter asked, "How do you feel now?" "Free," Thibodeaux replied.

Damon Thibodeaux has been on death row in Louisiana since October, 1997.

He was convicted of the murder and rape of his 14-year old step-cousin, Crystal Champagne.

It was a crime for which he had been coerced into falsely confessing.

But DNA and other evidence have proven his innocence.

It took seven years and hundreds of thousands of dollars of DNA testing for the Innocence Project and Jefferson Parish prosecutors to exonerate Thibodeaux.

"When you think you have an innocent man and people on both sides can get together and really share evidence and conduct an investigation into the search for the truth that's what's important. So we are tremendously indebted to Paul Connick and his team for the cooperation and the integrity with which they went about this process," Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said.

Thibodeaux makes the 300th person to be exonerated by DNA evidence in the U.S. And the 18th who served time on death row.

More here:
DNA Clears Death Row Inmate