Three men incarcerated for 36 years in Maryland were exonerated Monday in the slaying of a Baltimore teenager after a review of their case. 

Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart were released from custody hours after a judge cleared their convictions and prosecutors dropped the charges. 

On November 1983, the then-teenagers were awoken by police, accused of killing 14-year old DeWitt Duckett. Duckett was shot in the hallway of his Baltimore junior high school by someone who wanted his Georgetown University basketball jacket. The trio was sentenced to life in prison in 1984. 

The men always maintained their innocence and new evidence uncovered this past spring backed up their claims. Prosecutors said police withheld reports from multiple witnesses, identifying another person as the killer And that witnesses were coerced into identifying the three men as the killer. 

The suspect, Michael Willis was shot to death in West Baltimore in 2002. 

Stewart, Chestnut and Watkins, who are now in the 50s, begin the difficult journey of entering the outside world as adults for the very first time. 

It's unclear what, if any, compensation the three men will receive for their wrongful murder convictions. 

Maryland has no formal system in place -- something the state attorney vows to change. 

But whatever money comes their way, the biggest payout will certainly be their freedom.