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TUCSON, AZ - A man who spent 28 years in prison for a rape and murder has been released, after DNA testing showed he is innocent.

"I'm happy that I'm a free man and I'm going home," Gates said.

Tucson federal prison officials say 58-year-old Donald Eugene Gates was released Tuesday morning from the federal prison on Wilmot Rd.

"I'm just saying I'm happy," Gates said. "I'm happy to be a part of the community."

Gates was convicted in the June 1981 rape and murder of 21-year-old Catherine Schilling in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park.

Recent testing showed that Gates was not a match for the DNA found on Schilling's body and the work of an FBI forensic analyst involved in the investigation has now been called into question. Tuesday morning a judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Gates immediate release from prison.

Those who did time with Gates say he never let go of the truth.

"He knew that he was going to go because he kept telling them that he was innocent," James Bryant, who served time with Gates said. "He didn't have anything to do with it. And he knew eventually something was going to come down and he got a blessing, and he knew that he didn't do it."

Judge Fred Ugast, who presided over Gates' trial, says he's grateful that technology had made it possible to "right a wrong." Gates was given a bus ticket to Ohio, where he's originally from, winter clothes and $75.

In the photo below Gates is preparing to board a bus to his hometown of Akron, Ohio, a free man for the first time in 28 years. Gates says he is glad to be seeing family there and start his life over again.

Gates is not the only one celebrating.

"It's an exciting day," Andy Silverman with the Arizona Justice Project said. "It's a day that justice is finally being done for someone who has been in prison for 28 years."

In addition to working with the Arizona Justice Project, Silverman is also helping Gates get back on his feet. While he was not the one who cleared Gates' name, the work he does helps others who've been wrongfully convicted.

"The system does correct itself at times but there are clearly still people in prison that are innocent and we know that," Silverman said. "There are people on death row and we know that."

If the judge exonerates Gates as expected, he may be entitled to compensation under federal law which provides $50,000 per year of incarceration.