Wife Waits 27 Years for Husband Wrongfully Imprisoned for Murder: 'Love is Patient, Endures All Things' (VIDEO)

By Eric Corpus, Monday, January 27, 2014

As we know from 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient and it endures all things. When a news story opens by quoting Scripture, you know it's going to be good.

This CBS News video tells the story of Mark and Mia Schand of Windsor, Conn., a husband and wife who spent 27 years apart "for nothing," as the tattoo on Mark's arm testifies. Mark spent those decades in a Massachusetts state prison, sentenced to life without parole for a murder he didn't commit.

Victoria Seymour was fatally shot in 1986 in what police called the crossfire of a drug-related shooting. Schand was charged, tried and sentence for the killing while maintaining his innocence.

Mia, his girlfriend at the time, made the five-hour trip from Hartford every week to visit him. He urged her to move on with her life, but she wouldn't hear of it, so they married in the visiting room of the prison.

At the original trial, Mia testified that Mark was with her on the night Seymour was killed. Three years ago, she started working with Centurion Ministries, an organization that works to "exonerate and free the wrongly convicted. The ministry was named after the Roman centurion in Luke 23:47 who stood at Jesus' cross and proclaimed, "Certainly this man was innocent!" (ESV)

Their work secured a new trial for Mark in October 2013, which ended in his release the same day. Now, the reunited couple is building the life they've hoped for for three decades. In the video, they're surrounded by children and grandchildren in prayer when Mia is overcome with the meaning of the moment.

Watch Mark and Mia Schand talk about their patient and enduring love, and SHARE their story.