SUNNYSIDE, Wash. – Driving down the country roads of Sunnyside, Evaristo Salas Jr., 45, passed by cows and grass that stretched for miles. Faint music played in the back while Salas stared at the blur of colors passing through his windshield.

Then, a familiar note and guitar riffs started to play. Salas smiled and turned the music up – “Forever After All,” by Luke Combs.

“There were four songs I wanted to drive to when I got out of prison,” Salas said, grinning and pointing to his phone. “This was one of them. It feels like freedom.”

Salas was 16 when he was wrongfully convicted of shooting 24-year-old Jose Arreola twice in the head in November 1995.

He spent 27 years in prison before he was released two years ago Sunday.

During those years, Salas said he often paced his cell, quietly

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