"During the 15 years that Floyd Bledsoe was wrongfully imprisoned, he had plenty of time to think about the murder of 14-year-old Zetta 'Camille' Arfmann.

Who really did it?

Was it his brother, Tom Bledsoe, who initially confessed in 1999 and then recanted?

Did the killer act alone?

There was one name, however, that he never considered.

Last fall, when Floyd saw a report with the results of newly tested DNA, he wasn’t too surprised that the results incriminated his brother.

"In a case that threatens all funding for the entire state judicial branch, the Kansas Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a new law that changes the way chief judges in the lower courts are selected.

In a 43-page opinion in the case of Solomon v. Kansas written by Justice Eric Rosen, the court upheld a lower court decision that said the new law violates the separation of powers doctrine as well as Article 3 of the state constitution, which gives the Supreme Court “general administrative authority over all courts in this state.”

"Floyd Bledsoe is free, but injustices conscripting him to prison don’t vanish with turn of a key.

His experience as a wrongly convicted and belatedly released Kansan reflects a national norm. He served 15 years for rape and murder of teenager Camille Arfmann, who was coldly struck down in Jefferson County. In the United States, men and women exonerated with aid of post-conviction DNA testing spend an average of 14 years behind bars.

"After serving more than 15 years for a crime his brother admitted to in a suicide note last month, Floyd Bledsoe had little more than the flannel shirt and jeans he wore when a Kansas judge freed him Tuesday.

"A man in Kansas has been declared innocent after spending 16 years in prison for murder. 39-year-old Floyd Bledsoe is now a free man.

'I’m just grateful,' Bledsoe said.

Judge Gary Nafziger overturned his convictions for first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated indecent liberties in the death of his sister-in-law Camille Arfmann.

Arfmann was found dead with four gunshot wounds — one to the back of her head — back in 1999.