'I Just Learned God is Good': Cornealious Mike Anderson Freed From Prison After Clerical Mistake 13 Years Ago (VIDEO)
Cornealious "Mike" Anderson celebrated and thanked God Monday when a St. Charles, Missouri judge told him he could go home to his family after nearly a year in prison. Anderson robbed a Burger King assistant manager in 1999 and was given a 13-year sentence in 2000, but authorities forgot about him because of a clerical error. In July of last year, U.S. marshals showed up at his door, snatching him from his wife and four young children.
Cornealious Michael Anderson, 37, had never been convicted of a crime before his 1999 crime, but since then, he turned his life around. He started a construction business, got married, had four children, coaches youth football and volunteers at his church in Webster Groves, Missouri, USA Today reported. Anderson's good behavior made an impression on the judge, who made a decision in just 10 minutes.
"You've been a good father. You've been a good husband. You've been a good taxpaying citizen of the state of Missouri," Judge Terry Lynn Brown of Missouri's 33rd Judicial Circuit Court in Charleston said, adding that Anderson would be released and credited the 4,794 days he was out on bail. "That leads me to believe that you are a good man and a changed man."
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"I didn't have words; just overwhelmed," Anderson told the "Today" show Tuesday. "I couldn't say anything. I was just thankful. Just thanked God, thanked my family and everyone that's been supporting us."
"I just learned God is good,'' he continued. "His hand was in this the whole time. It sounds weird, but if I had to do it all over again, I don't know if I'd do anything different because He's just showed me so much of what's going on and just the lives that He's touching."
In 2000, after Anderson was convicted, he was released on bail and told to wait for a call to report to prison. However, a trial court clerk failed to let the Missouri Supreme Court know that the then-22-year-old was out on bail, so Anderson was never picked up.
"Day by day, month by month, year by year, time passed, and they never picked me up," Anderson told the Associated Press about a month ago. He even asked his attorney at the time about going to prison.
In July of 2013, when his sentence was supposed to end, Missouri Department of Corrections officials realized the mistake and Anderson was arrested and thrown in prison. However, many came to his defense, including Attorney General Chris Koster, the assistant manager robbed all those years ago and the over 35,000 people who signed a Change.com advocating for Anderson's release.
For Anderson, the real story isn't simply how he was released from prison, it's how God used his story to touch others.
"It's not about me," he said on the "Today" show. "He's doing something for other people out there. I got letters from strangers all over the U.S. that I don't even know and ... I had people telling me that they gave up, that they weren't even praying anymore, listening to God, and something told them that they need to pray, that they need to help."
"Just God working in their life is awesome," he added.
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