James Blackmon, 66, is brought into the courtroom for an innocence hearing on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 the first day of the three-day hearing in Raleigh, N.C. A three-judge panel has ruled Blackmon, convicted of killing a North Carolina college student 40 years ago is innocent. The ruling as part of North Carolina's innocence process, the judges agreed that Blackmon didn't fatally stab Helena Payton in 1979 at what's now St. Augustine's University in Raleigh. Blackmon was sentenced in 1988, about nine years after the slaying.
