Wrongfully convicted Reggie Dillard gives first TV interview after 27 years behind bars

"I didn't believe I heard the words right," he said. "I just didn't believe. I turned around, 'Did you hear? Did you hear what I thought I heard?'"

Dillard explained the moment he learned his fate, just days ago.

"I was elated," he said.

He sat down with ABC57's Annie Kate for his first TV interview since the murder conviction, which kept him behind bars for 27 years, was overturned.

"They had an iron fist, a lid on Elkhart, Elkhart County. And what they did, the monopoly that they had, has sent innocent people, men and women, to prison, on wrongful convictions," Dillard said. "We've always heard about what was going on with these officers."

ABC57 has reported on similar cases out of Elkhart, where men had been targeted by a rogue and racist group of cops dubbed "The Wolverines."

"It was an election year, and they needed to put someone on that body," he said. "They chose Eddie Frederick and Reginald Dillard to frame for the body of Christopher Thomas."

Christopher Thomas was shot and killed in Elkhart in 1998. In 1999, Dillard was arrested for murder and convicted in 2000, along with Eddie Frederick. Unfortunately, Frederick didn't get to see his name cleared; he died in prison from bad health several years ago.

"Eddie Frederick was an individual, a young man, that I trusted, and he never let me down," Dillard said. "He was innocent. We did not do the crime."

But Dillard stayed behind bars for 27 years before staff at the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic could prove he was wrongfully convicted.

"I have to give all the grace and all the joy, the respect, to my lord and savior," Dillard said, "But without Elliot [Slosar], Kevin Murphy, Jim Gurulé, a team, lord, I wouldn't have made it. I wouldn't have gotten here."

He said the joy of his release is accompanied by grief. It was his mother's voice in his ear all those years, he said, giving him the strength to make it through.

"Me and her had an understanding, 'You get back home, you make it back to me, you're going to be okay,'" he said. "I didn't make it back to her. October of '25, she passed. I didn't make it back to her."

Still, he was reunited with his fiancée and his children.

"My son and daughter were kids when I left," Dillard said. "Just to have that bond, just for them to love their dad after 27 years."

His newfound freedom was possible because of the years-long court battle fought by his representation at the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic. They were able to prove the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office and the Elkhart Police Department withheld exculpatory evidence that could have cleared Dillard's name.

"[Slosar] told me, 'As long as you're innocent, and we see you're innocent, we'll stand by you,'" Dillard said, "and here we are today."

Now, Dillard has the rest of his life ahead of him. He said he's still figuring out what is next for him and did not disclose whether he plans to file a civil suit for his wrongful conviction.

"Second chance is the way of America, right?" he said.