( CNN ) Anthony Ray Hinton is 58 years old . But in many ways , he is new to the world -- at least the one we know . Little things like using a fork , going out at night , tucking into bed without anyone checking on you ; they 're all strange for someone like Hinton who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama 's death row . Until one week ago , when his murder convictions were wiped clean , and Hinton walked out of a county jail in Birmingham . `` I have to pinch myself to tell myself that I 'm free , '' he told CNN 's Brooke Baldwin on Friday . `` It 's going to take a little time , but I 'll get used to it . '' Hinton had to get used to much worse . For 30 years , he spent most of his time locked in a 5-by-7 cell . There was no going outside at night . The only permissible eating utensil was a plastic spoon . And life in the outside world passed him by : Hinton said his hardest day came in 2002 , when he learned his mother had died . Hinton was convicted of killing two men -- Birmingham-area fast-food restaurant managers John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason -- but he always said he was innocent . Alabama inmate freed after 30 years on death row . The state decided to dismiss the charges against him after a new trial was ordered in 2014 when firearms experts testified that the revolver Hinton was said to have used could not be matched to other evidence in the case . The two killings also could n't be linked to each other . Talking Friday to CNN , Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said the evidence simply was n't there to retry the case . Falls pointed out that analysts testified that the ballistics evidence was `` inconclusive '' as to whether the bullets came from the gun in question . The victim of a similar crime did identify Hinton as her attacker , but that victim and a witness to that incident have since died , Falls said . When asked if Hinton 's ordeal was an injustice , because the evidence about guns that helped convict Hinton should have been ruled inconclusive in 1985 , Falls said , `` It appears it was . '' The last time Hinton was free , Ronald Reagan was president , `` Back to the Future '' ruled the box office , and a first-class stamp cost 22 cents . He did n't get to see firsthand how the world changed in the decades since . His life was defined by a preordained routine : when to eat , when to leave his cell , when to sleep . Hinton did n't even see the moon and stars , really , for all these years . Did he ever want to give up ? `` I did n't come too close to a breaking point , '' Hinton said . `` But I would be lying to you if I did n't tell you that Satan did n't tell me to kill myself . ... I would immediately tell Satan to get ... behind me . '' What got him through all those tough times , he said , was his sense of humor . `` I had no choice , '' Hinton said of his ability to laugh and make others do the same . `` It was something that I was born with , but I never thought that it would come in handy that I would have to use it . `` Being on death row , we had to use ( humor ) every day . At least I did . '' `` Death Row Stories '' : Hard questions about the U.S. capital punishment system .
Anthony Ray ##son was freed Apri 3 , shortly after conviction for multiple murders . things like using a flashlight , getting used to the dark are rare now that he 's out . He says his sense of humor helped him survive 30 years in prison .