DETROIT After spending seven and a half years of his life in prison for a murder he didnt commit, Edward Khalil is finally a free man. Khalil was tried, re-tried and lost three different appeals over the years. Through it all, he never lost his faith that hed walk away a free man. I was thrown in the precinct for three nights and was taken to the county jail to post bond, Khalil said. The Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit spent a year investigating the incident.