vincent smothers confessed to the killings and told police where to find the murder weapon but davonte sanfordemained in prison. >> failure after failure after failure, systemic failure. >> reporter: a year-long reinvestigation of sanford's caed was innocent. this afternoon, sanford now 23, walked out of a place where he should have never been. his mother waited at home too emotional to make the two-hour trip. >> i think when i hold him it will be real. i haven't touched him, hugged him anything in eight years. >> but tonight she finally will. michelle miller, cbs news, detroit. >> that's the "cbs overnight news" for this thursday. for some of you the news continues. for others check back with us a little later for the morning news and cbs this morning. from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm scott pelley. >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." >>> hi, welcome to the "cbs overnight news." i'm demarco nor gain. the stage set for the white house. donald trump and his first race for public office will square off against democrat hillary clinton the first woman to lead a major par

>> reporter: taminko sanford is talking with her son, davont awho woke up in prison this morning.s a phone call they waited for, for eight years. valerie newman is their lawyer. >> the hope is i'm going to be driving up there today to pick you up. >> reporter: you lost eight years. is there any way to regain that, that time? >> can't get back. >> reporter: in 2007, then-14-year-old davontae sanford was charged with a quadruple murder at a drug house in his detroit neighborhood. according to a judge's review, police interrogated the teenager without a lawyer over multiple days, allowing him little sleep, until he confessed. >> reporter: the judge also said sanford's trial lawyer, bob slameka, who has since had his license suspended, never challenged inconsistencies in the confession, and a police official may have lied on the witness stand. two weeks after the teenager was sentenced, a self-proclaimed hit man, vincent smothers, confessed to the killings, and told police where to find the murder weapon, but davontae sanford remained in prison. >> failure after failure after failure,