(CNN) After nearly 46 years in a Louisiana prison, Wilbert Jones became a free man Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction in a 1971 rape case.

You could call it a belated birthday gift. Jones turned 65 on November 1.

"My life was taken away from me for something I didn't do," he told CNN affiliate WAFB during an interview after his release.

Jones was convicted of raping a nurse after abducting her from outside a Baton Rouge hospital on October 2, 1971. He was arrested, tried and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was 19 at the time of his arrest.

The victim's testimony was the only evidence that linked Jones to the crime. But she told police that she had doubts about her identification of Jones because the man who raped her was taller and had a rougher voice.

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