Tragic story of man about to sign a baseball deal when he was jailed for a murder he didn't commit - and was imprisoned for 27 YEARS before exoneration

William 'Billy' Dillon looked set to be signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1981

But he was framed for the gruesome murder of a gay man on a Florida beach

It was not until 2008 that he was freed after DNA tests proved his innocence

Mail Online - But in a shocking miscarriage of justice, the only ball William would get to play for the next 27 years would be behind prison walls, as detailed in an sbnation.com feature.  

On December 4, 1981, a jury found William Dillon guilty of the murder of 40-year-old James Dvorak, an openly gay construction supervisor, who was found beaten to death in Canova Beach Park, Florida.

Dvorak was found at a place known locally as 'Queer Pier', a popular pick-up spot for gay men. His face had been smashed in and his lips ripped off.

To the jury who sent him down, the evidence against William would have been more than compelling.

There was the testimony of a 56-year-old gay man called John Parker who claimed to have been in the Canova Beach Park car lot when a blood-splattered William emerged from the woods.

Parker said he had paid William $20 for oral sex and that the next day he had found Wiliam's bloody t-shirt in the back of his pick-up truck with the words 'surf -it' on the front.

William's then girlfriend Dona Parish testified she had found William on the night of the murder standing next to the dead body, bloody and shirtless.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386214/William-Dillon-Innocent-man-jailed-murder--imprisoned-27-YEARS-exoneration.html#ixzz2bJnAT5SQ