Innocent Man Imprisoned for 27 Years Is Free to Sing National Anthem at Tampa Bay Rays Game
While serving 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, William Dillon never thought he’d hear the crack of a bat again, much less sing the national anthem at a big league ballpark. Yet that’s exactly what the con-turned-crooner will do Wednesday night in Tampa, Fla.
Dillon, who was freed in 2008 after being wrongfully imprisoned for a brutal 1981 murder in Florida’s Brevard County, will belt out the Star Spangled Banner at Tropicana Field before the Rays take on the Cleveland Indians tonight. For the budding country singer, who plays with a band made up of exonerated former prisoners, it promises to be a high note in a saga with plenty of lows.
“To come from where I came from, without hope, to tonight, to be singing the national anthem … it’s just indescribable,” Dillon, 52, told foxnews.com. “It’s a miracle in its own right. I just hope it’s not so emotional for me that I can’t sing the song.”
In March, Florida Gov. Rick Scott personally apologized to Dillon and announced a $1.35 million compensation package for the man who was once scouted by the Detroit Tigers as a promising young pitcher. While Dillon admits that he felt angry and bitter at times while he was behind bars, he says he never lost his belief in America.