CARLISLE, Ind. — “It’s a very joyous day,” Walter Goudy said Thursday outside the gates of the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. “I don’t hold no hatred or animosity toward anyone.”

Goudy has been behind bars since age 26 — he’s now 42 — convicted of murder in the 1994 shooting death of Marvin McCloud of Anderson.

Goudy says he is very thankful for his supportive family, who he says stuck with him through the years as he maintained his innocence in the shooting.

His conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago on May 3, and the state was given 120 days to decide whether to retry or release Goudy. Just 40 minutes prior to the 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline to refile charges in the case, a special prosecutor turned in the paperwork for a retrial.

Then on Wednesday, Special Prosecutor Barry Brown filed a motion to release Goudy. At 1:30 p.m. Thursday, he walked out of the prison gates into the waiting arms of his mother, Christine Goudy, who said she has not seen her son during his time in prison.

“He looks the same,” Christine said as she watched her son make his way through the maze of gates at the exit. She kept glancing at a cell phone with his photo displayed next to a photo of his father, and she remarked that their resemblance was striking.

Walking beside a cart carrying his belongings, Goudy waved one arm high over his head when he saw his mother, who was smiling, pressing her hands together, fingers to her lips as she witnessed his freedom.

She and Goudy’s fiancee, Meeulonda Williams of Indianapolis, seemed to be a mixed bag of emotions — from happy to nervous to anxious — as they waited outside the prison while Walter traded in his prison garb for the white shirt, long, dark blue shorts and white sneakers they had brought for him to wear.

A long hug between Walter and his mother was followed by a welcoming embrace with Williams, and then repeated hugs as the three united.

Walter says he connected with Williams five years ago through a pen pal program. “God sent her to me,” he said, explaining that even knowing his situation in prison, Williams stayed with him.

Williams said she and Christine Goudy only found out Thursday morning that Walter would be released as soon as they arrived to pick him up at the prison. They had been waiting in Indianapolis since Wednesday for news on Goudy’s status. After receiving word from defense attorney Mark Maynard of Anderson that Walter would be released, the two women hopped in Williams’ car and made the trip to Carlisle for the first of many reunions that Walter will have in coming days.

“We’re trying to absorb all this,” Williams said of Goudy’s release.

Christine Goudy said she planned to take Walter first to see the gravesites of his father and grandparents, all of whom died while he was incarcerated.

He also will visit with his four children, who were ages 3, 2 and “two in the womb” when he was arrested. On Tuesday, his oldest child will turn age 19.

“I can’t wait to see them,” said a smiling Walter, whose first grandchild, a girl, was born nearly three months ago.

As for his future plans, Goudy said he would like to get into real estate as an occupation, but his passion is to work with at-risk youth “to keep them from going through the system like this.”

Lisa Trigg is a reporter for the Tribune Star in Terre Haute.