There was no DNA. The justice department didn’t even have a weapon, fingerprints, a motive, or any way of connecting the man to the murder of Mischelle Lawless from Sikeston, Missouri in 1992, who had been beaten and shot three times.

In fact, the blood found beneath the murdered girl’s fingernails as she initially fought back against her assailant did not match Josh Kezer’s blood, who was charged and ultimately found guilty of her murder.

The justice department was able to convict Josh because of a ‘fabricated story’ and ‘false testimonies’ given by jailhouse snitches looking for a lighter sentence, Christian Learning reports.

As a result, Josh, who was 17 at the time at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 60 years and would spend the next 16 years in prison for a crime he never committed.

Before his conviction, Josh had also chosen to believe in Jesus, and it was his faith that helped him survive his false imprisonment.

Josh admits during the darkest hours, there were a couple of times he actually prayed for death, because “I didn’t want to wake up another day in prison,” after having other inmates assault and unsuccessfully try to rape him.

But perhaps his biggest struggle was dealing with the anger over the lies and injustice, that resulted in him ending up in jail.

“To really be free in prison for a crime you didn’t commit, you have to address forgiveness. When Christ forgives me, He restores me. I’m given a plan, a purpose, and an opportunity to start over every day,” Josh said in an interview with the 700 Club.

However, the decision to forgive those involved in his incarceration wasn’t easy, and he spent hours wrestling with God in prayer for the grace to forgive.

“I have to focus on God’s narrative of my life more than the other narratives. And what He says about me, who I am in the eyes of my Father in heaven, who I am in Christ,” Josh said.

But after 16 years in prison, he was not only set free spiritually, but as well physically as a court completely exonerated Josh of the crime.

Instead, of simply ruling he was not guilty, the judge actually said he was ‘innocent’ of the crime.

The case was overturned due in part to questions that Sheriff Rick Walter always had about his conviction, CBS’s 48 Hours reports.

Walter was a part-time deputy at the time Josh was arrested and was the first to discover the murdered girl’s body in her car.

After he became sheriff, Walter hired a private investigator to take a second look at the case against Josh, and quickly uncovered evidence of the injustice, leading to the second trial.

This included a major retraction by the girl, who stated she had seen Josh arguing with the murdered girl at a party the week before. She admitted she had been pressured into stating the boy was Josh.

Evidence had even been submitted by those who organized the party that they knew everyone who attended and Josh was not one of them, but it was ignored.

Even the three inmates who stated they had heard Josh confess to the murder and had their sentences reduced, admitted they had lied.

READ: “48 Hours” probes Missouri murder mystery