Hawaii Man Exonerated After 30 Years in Prison: “Thank God for DNA”
by Stefan Bos, Worthy News Correspondent
MAUI, HAWAII (Worthy News) – After spending three decades behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit, Gordon Cordeiro is finally free.
The 51-year-old Hawaiian was exonerated last week after DNA evidence proved he was not at the scene of the 1994 murder for which he was wrongfully convicted.
His first moments of freedom after his release from the Maui Community Correctional Center in the U.S. island state of Hawaii were deeply personal.
Cordeiro, who went to prison in 1994 for the slaying of Timothy Blaisdell during a drug deal gone bad on Hawaii’s Maui island, visited his mother’s grave.
His mother, Paulette, died at age 49 of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a rare terminal neurodegenerative disorder, in September 1994, the same year he was incarcerated.
“Thank you for watching over me all these years,” he said. “You kept me safe.”
DNA EVIDENCE
Cordeiro was only 20 when he was sentenced to life without parole for a fatal robbery tied to the drug deal. Despite always maintaining his innocence, he remained imprisoned for more than 30 years.
That changed last Friday when a judge overturned his conviction, citing new DNA evidence that excluded him from the crime scene. “Thank God for DNA. Technology is amazing,” Cordeiro said after his release.
To celebrate his newfound freedom, Cordeiro treated himself to a home-cooked steak. Over the weekend, he reconnected with family and made a long-awaited trip to the grocery store.
“It feels normal,” he said, though he admitted the world has changed dramatically since he last saw it.
He was shocked to learn that Lahaina, a historic town in Hawaii, had been destroyed by wildfires in 2023. Even everyday behaviors seemed foreign—especially people constantly staring at their phones.
“When I went in, I only had a beeper,” he said. Now, he has a smartphone, though he’s still adjusting. “It just keeps beeping, and messages keep coming in. It’s different.”
INNOCENCE PROJECT
Cordeiro’s exoneration was made possible by the Hawaii Innocence Project (HIP), which fought to prove his wrongful conviction.
Lawyers linked to the advocacy group argued that false testimony and prosecutorial misconduct contributed to his sentencing.
“This is a case where, when you hear the facts, you know deep in your heart that a grave injustice occurred,” said HIP director Kenneth Lawson.
Whether Cordeiro will receive compensation for his wrongful imprisonment remains uncertain. But for his father, Dennis Cordeiro, the focus is on gratitude and relief.
Fighting back tears, the elder Cordeiro told reporters, “I’m just so happy my son will still get to celebrate family gatherings before I leave this world.”
It was the latest in numerous cases of people languishing innocently for years, or even decades, in America’s troubled prison system.
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