Alexander Villa walked out of Lawrence Correctional Center downstate into the arms of his family.
A judge overturned Villa's conviction Wednesday for the shooting death of Officer Clifton Lewis, when he was working as a security guard in 2011.
Two of his co-defendants previously had their convictions thrown out.
Villa asked a judge to overturn his life sentence, handed down a little over a year ago, based on allegations that prosecutors hid crucial evidence that would've proven his innocence.
"There's two victims in this situation. You have a person who was wrongfully incarcerated for something he didn't do. And you have a family that is suffering the loss of their loved one. No one wins," Villa's sister Melissa said.
Meanwhile, Officer Lewis' family said they feel blindsided and helpless with no one behind bars for his murder.
"It's like a slap in the face," his sister Matasha Lewis said. "Like, no justice."
"We've suffered a lot and we're still suffering and yesterday was like the bandage was ripped off again," said Lashana Lewis, sister.
The family was devastated to hear prosecutors will not be reopening the case.
"To tell us you're not picking up the case, it's just going to be closed, what are we left to do?" said Lashana Lewis.
"We still have to remember this pain and it keeps coming back up and up repeatedly," said Matasha Lewis. "How is our family supposed to heal?"
"The winner of the state's attorney's race, who we expect to be Judge O'Neill Burke, absolutely needs to pledge publicly that she is going to re-indict and re-try this case as soon as she is in office. If not, she will not have FOP support," FOP President John Catanzara said.
ABC7 spoke with Villa when he arrived back in the Chicago area Thursday evening.
"It's just overwhelming," he said. "It's like not having a voice or nobody hearing you. During the interrogation, I told them I was innocent over 200 times."
He said the conviction changed his life and his 14-year-old son was killed by gun violence while he was in prison.
Villa hopes justice can be found for the Lewis family.
"It's sad for both sides and I just wish they would've got the right people to give that family the closure they need but incarcerating an innocent man, there's no justice in that," he said.