FLORIDA - Alan Crotzer, the man who spent 25 years in state prison for a rape he did not commit, asked the Governor for a fresh start today and got it. Crotzer has already received 1.25 million for his wrongful conviction, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the Governor and Executive Clemency Board today erased two old convictions, which will allow Crotzer to look to the future.

Alan Crotzer walked into the Capitol a convicted felon. He walked out with a clean record. Minutes earlier he asked the Governor for a pardon.

"I am not the monster that they tried to make me be. Every day in prison I tried to prove that."

At 18, Crotzer was convicted of robbery when four of his friends grabbed cases of beer at a convenience store and fled. While in prison for the rape he didn't commit, he was charged with possessing pot.

The governor decided he has paid enough.

"I make the movement that we grant a full pardon and expungement."

Charlie Crist/Governor
"When someone has changed their life, you recognize that and you give them a second chance. I mean, the man works for the Department of Juvenile Justice now and I'm very proud of Alan Crotzer."

With a crime free record, Crotzer wants a college education and to work for the prison system correcting the abuses he saw as an inmate wrongfully convicted.

"Prison offers nothing but corruption and chaos and mayhem. We can't hardly clothe them, house them or feed them. I go in there to give them hope and let them know they can be inspired by me. That's what I do. It makes me tick."

Crotzer is now counseling young offenders for the Department of Juvenile Justice and telling them about the mistakes he made. He is also working for the Innocence Project, helping to free other wrongfully convicted.

When told a 2004 Supreme Court opinion may not allow an expungement of Crotzer's past, the Governor asked rhetorically...."aren't there two new judges over there now...and two more to come?"

Someone would have to file suit to challenge the vote to grant the expungement. Crotzer says he feels "like he is finally off to a fresh start in life".Crotzer Pardoned