Clifford Williams Jr. was 34 and his nephew, Hubert Nathan Myers, was 18 back in May 1976.
They were at a party in Jacksonville, Florida, when two women were shot in a nearby apartment, one of them fatally.
The men were quickly arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
On Thursday, the state threw out their convictions and set them free, CNN reports.
Williams and Myers shook hands and shared a long hug before emotionally joining family members gathered in the courtroom, affiliate WFOX reported. Myers kissed the ground outside.
“I’m nervous because I feel like I’m still locked up,” he said. “Once I get with my family and know I can look back … and the reality hits in, I think I’ll be all right.”
But evidence showed the shots were all fired outside, and from the same gun.
Still, Williams and Myers were convicted of murder and attempted murder after a two-day trial.
Their attorneys presented no evidence or witnesses, although partygoers reported being with the men when everyone heard the shots that night.
The pair always maintained their innocence, throughout the trial and the next 42 years they spent behind bars. They filed multiple failed motions for “postconviction relief,” prosecutors said.
Things began to change when they petitioned the Conviction Integrity Review unit, which the state attorney created in 2017.
Among the findings: Another man reportedly confessed to people that he committed the murders and felt bad Williams and Myers were imprisoned for it, the Conviction Integrity Review investigation report said. That man died in 1994.
The new unit’s review led to the first-of-its-kind result, with the cases being tossed. (CNN. Photo: Associated Press)