A man sentenced to death as a teenager was freed Monday by DNA evidence, and said he had been certain from the beginning that he would be vindicated. For more than seven years, Ryan Matthews has said he had nothing to do with the 1997 robbery and murder of a grocer. He said he knew that someday he would be freed. "I always knew it would happen. So it wasn't a surprise to me," he said after a brief hearing dropping charges against him. "Never give up hope, no matter how bad it gets." State District Judge Henry Sullivan dismissed the indictment at the request of prosecutors, who noted they have a year to "revisit" the case. William Sothern, an attorney for The Capital Appeals Project, said he doubts that will happen. "He's exonerated. Without a doubt," Sothern said. Jurors were told that no physical evidence linked Matthews to the holdup and murder of Tommy Vanhoose. [more]