CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man who was once serving a life sentence for the murder of a UNC Charlotte student is speaking out for the first time since he was granted a new trial.
[PAST COVERAGE: Judge orders new trial for man convicted of killing UNCC student in 2008]
Three weeks ago, Mark Carver walked out of prison after a judge ruled the evidence that previously convicted him in 2011 for the murder of Ira Yarmolenko was questionable.
In 2008, jet skiers found Yarmolenko’s body next to her car on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly. Carver was fishing nearby.
Despite a jury finding him guilty of strangling her to death, Carver has maintained his innocence.
The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence fought to get Carver out of prison for years and last month, a judge granted him a new trial.
Carver sat down exclusively with Channel 9's Ken Lemon on Tuesday.
Since his release, Carver said he’s been spending most of his time playing with his granddaughter, who was born while he was in prison.
"Go be with my grandbaby. That’s my daily life,” Carver said.
(Carver and his granddaughter)
His new life is a huge difference from his daily struggle to survive behind bars. In prison, Carver said every day there were angry people and fights between dangerous men.
He said as odd as it sounds, he survived because gang members protected him.
“They knowed (sic) I was innocent and stuff and they kinda looked out for me,” said Carver.
He said letters from family and strangers kept his spirits high, even when he wanted to quit fighting for freedom.
“They said they couldn’t understand why the system failed," said Carver. "Yeah. They couldn’t understand why an innocent man was doing time for something he couldn’t do.”
Carver said he had the chance to thank some of those people when he got out of prison.
“Sometimes I tried to give up, but they kept me going,” Carver said.
He insists he didn’t kill Yarmolenko.
“Ain’t no way I’d hurt nobody like that,” he said.
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When Lemon asked Carver how he lets go of missing nearly a decade with his family, Carver said, “You have to. I can’t do nothing about it.”
The family that supported him in prison was there for him when he was released, but the fight isn’t over yet.
Carver is out on bond and wearing a GPS monitor as he awaits his retrial.
The judge said Brent Ratchford, Carver's trial attorney in 2011, didn't consider the fact that Carver had the IQ of an elementary school-aged child.
He said Ratchford also didn't show evidence of his carpal tunnel syndrome, which Carver's current attorney said would have made it impossible for him to strangle Yarmolenko.
When asked, “If not Mark, who?” Carver’s attorney Chris Mumma said that is up to the police to decide.
“I firmly believe we know more about this case than law enforcement ever knew. So hopefully, someone will ask for our opinion on that,” said Mumma.
She said the judge was right to question DNA evidence presented at trial and believes police and prosecutors managed to send the wrong man to prison.
Channel 9 spoke with the district attorney Tuesday afternoon and he’s confident that Carver is the only suspect for this crime.