a 1985 rape and slashing of a young white woman that had circumstances similar to that of Sykes. He was never prosecuted. According to Regina Lane, who had gone to the police in 1985 about the attack on her, especially because of similarities to the Sykes case, officers discouraged her from pressing charges. "The Sykes Administrative Review Committee concluded that Winston-Salem police investigators made numerous mistakes in not connecting Lane's rape with Sykes' murder." Based on this review and that by the State Bureau of Investigation, the city put into place new procedures to prevent police officers from having such tunnel vision about cases. When questioned by police after the DNA match to the Sykes case, Brown confessed to the 1984 rape and stabbing death of Sykes. Brown's confession ultimately resulted in the full exoneration and release of Darryl Hunt in 2004, who by then had served more than 19 years of a life sentence for crimes which he denied committing. On February 6, 2004, Superior Court Judge Anderson Cromer held a release hearing on Hunt. Sykes' mother Evelyn Jefferson took the stand and criticized the judge for proposing to release a man she still believed was guilty. When given a chance to speak, Hunt offered her and the Sykes family his condolences for their loss, and forgave everyone for the years he spent in prison. Judge Cromer vacated Hunt’s murder conviction in the case. The case against Hunt was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that Hunt could not be tried again in the murder. Post-prison: Working for reform "Starting that day, Hunt devoted his life to reforming a criminal justice system that had stripped him of nearly two decades of his life, becoming a globally known advocate for the wrongfully convicted with a similar kind of grace he showed Jefferson." He founded The Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice, seeking to educate the public about criminal justice cases, to gain counsel for the wrongfully convicted, and to help released prisoners rebuild their lives after exoneration and release. A community activist, Hunt became an award-winning speaker, and acted frequently as a mentor. He spoke at hundreds of conferences, to students at schools, audiences at film festivals, and congregations of religious groups in an effort to spread his message of reform in the criminal justice system. He urged compassion and help to those trying to rebuild lives after serving in prison.