Now that he’s been cleared of a murder that put him in prison for nearly 30 years, Robert Johnson says he’s ready for his next challenge.
Learning to drive.
“I start driving school on April 7,” Johnson said Tuesday. “That’s going to be exciting.”
Johnson was 16 years old when he was taken from his grandmother’s South Side home in 1996 and charged with robbing and killing Eddie “Jay” Binio.
Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison. But the conviction was vacated last month and, on Tuesday, prosecutors dropped the charges against him.
“I feel like there’s a weight that’s finally over with, after 28 years and ten months of my life,” Johnson told reporters. “I don’t have nothing over my head no more.”
Johnson’s grandma, Mary Robinson, and a dozen other friends and family members were in court Tuesday as Judge Joanna Rosado congratulated Johnson.
With “tears of joy” streaming down her face, Robinson told reporters she couldn’t find the words to describe the moment.
“I thought I wasn’t going to live to see him come home,” Robinson, 93, told reporters. “I’m just so happy.”
While Tuesday was a day of celebration, Johnson and his lawyers took a moment to acknowledge all he lost while behind bars.
He was able to attend his grandmother’s 93rd birthday party last month, but his lawyer Lauren Myerscough-Mueller said “he should have been there for the 29 birthdays before.”
While in prison, Johnson said he lost his mother, a brother, an uncle, and a cousin.
“What they took from me, they will never be able to give me back,” Johnson said. “And I wonder when it will stop. When would they stop arresting brown and Black young men, being overly zealous and not really looking at the evidence?
“I just want to know when will it stop because we have innocent people in prison and the murderers out there free,” he said.
Attorneys for the Exoneration Project said the witness against Johnson recanted and another person admitted to the murder. That person died in 2018.
While Johnson’s criminal case is over, he will have to begin a separate process to obtain a certificate of innocence, which would make him eligible for compensation from the state.
His lawyer said he is also exploring possible civil suits against the city and the officers involved.
In the meantime, Johnson said he’s ready to get to work, hopefully finding a job as a paralegal or working with young people in the city.
“I think that if you show them something different and show them something better, they’ll do better,” Johnson told reporters
But first, he added, “I got to learn how to drive.”