KANKAKEE, Ill. _ In the months since his court-ordered release from prison, Terrence Haynes has struggled to keep up with the world he left behind two decades ago.
He reluctantly learned to text, but has embarked on a futile search for a flip phone like the one he had before going away. He wants to return the sleek smartphone his family helped him pick out because he doesn't like all those _ what are they called? _ oh, right, apps.
Haynes regularly goes to the gym with his adult son, who works for a mysterious company called Amazon. Haynes confides he tried online shopping once, but he flubbed the checkout process and never received the shoes he ordered.
He secured a job at a local cocoa factory, making the same chocolate-flavored powder the Illinois Department of Corrections serves to inmates. He also helps his mom with household chores, mowing the lawn or installing a security fence.
But mostly Terrence Haynes sits alone in his room.
Freedom can be overwhelming when you've spent nearly your entire adult life without it. It's even more so for Haynes, who knows he could lose it again soon.
Haynes, 42, is scheduled to be retried for first-degree murder this summer, a potential final chapter in an error-riddled case that has dragged on for nearly 20 years. The legal saga began with troubling testimony from a child who turned out to be a prosecutor's cousin and may end with that same key witness _ now 30 _ saying he lied at his older relative's urging.
The stunning admission, first made several years ago, could lead to Haynes' permanent freedom. Or it could be disregarded and Haynes ordered to finish the 45-year prison sentence originally imposed on him.
"Of course, I think about what could happen," he said. "How could I not be worried?"
