A Brooklyn man is walking free after nearly a quarter of a century in prison for a murder he didn't commit. NY1's Lori Chung filed the following report.

Andre Hatchett enjoyed his first real taste of freedom after more than two decades in prison, celebrating his exoneration with relatives at a barbecue dinner.

"I feel good. I feel good. I'm glad I'm free. I just want to maintain and stay with family," Hatchett said.

A judge overturned his 1992 murder conviction in the beating death of a woman whose body was found in a Bedford-Stuyvesant park.

The only evidence in the case was the eyewitness testimony of a man who first told police someone else killed the victim and who then fingered Hatchett when police found out that first suspect was in jail at the time of the killing and couldn't have done it.

The Brooklyn district attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit cooperated with lawyers from the Innocence Project, who say Hatchett was also recovering from gunshot wounds at the time and was physically unable to carry out the murder.

Attorney Barry Scheck says Hatchett's case shows that pending legislation on witness questioning should be passed.

"In that eyewitness legislation, there are procedures in place for documenting identification and training law enforcement on how to do this that would prevent anything like this from happening again," Scheck said.

"I've been innocent almost 25 years," Hatchett said. "There's a lot of innocent people in jail."

Now, Hatchett is surrounded by relatives who say they never lost faith, even as he became a victim of the system.

"We always knew that he was innocent," said Jacqueline Hatchett, Andre's cousin.

Walking free at last, Andre Hatchett says he's lost way more than just time in all this, but he's focused on the future.

"My son caught a heart attack. My mother died. My little brother died while I was in here, got sick," he said "But I'm strong. I always fall, get back up and try again."

Hatchett was 24 years old when this all started. He turns 50 in May.

The Conviction Integrity Unit has vacated 19 convictions since its inception when Ken Thompson took over as DA, with about another 100 cases pending review.