LORAIN — Just hours after a county judge acquitted her of the child molestation charges of which she was convicted in 1994, Nancy Smith said Wednesday she’s ready to move on with her life.

“I go find a job and just live my life finally, after all these years, with my children, my grandchildren and my family,” a tearful Smith said during an interview at the Lorain office of her attorney, Jack Bradley.

Smith, 52, spent 14½ years in prison after being convicted along with Joseph Allen, of molesting children on her Head Start bus route. The pair, who have always maintained their innocence, were acquitted Wednesday by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge, who said the evidence presented during their trial wasn’t strong enough to justify their conviction.

Smith, who had been serving a 30- to 90-year prison term when Burge threw out her sentence and agreed to impose a new one because of an error in the original sentencing entry, said she has lived in fear of returning to prison ever since she was released on bond in February.

Even if Burge had imposed the minimum sentence of five to 25 years, she would have had to return to prison until the Ohio Parole Board agreed to release her or she’d served 25 years.

“After you’ve been in prison for 14½ years for a crime you didn’t commit knowing there was a chance you might have to go back was pretty scary,” she said.

Smith said she missed much while she was imprisoned, including the weddings of her children, the death of her father, the birth of her eight grandchildren, and that she wants to make up for lost time. She said it was horrible in prison, especially knowing that she was innocent.

“Nobody will ever know what it felt like unless it happened to you,” she said.

The darkest time for Smith in prison, Bradley said, was when the Parole Board rejected her parole request in 2007. The Ohio Innocence Project had created a strong package of material pointing out the flaws in the case against Smith, but the Parole Board only seemed interested in getting Smith to admit wrongdoing, he said.

When Smith refused, the Parole Board said she was in “denial” and rejected her request.

“Being returned to prison because you won’t tell that agency what they want to hear I think was very devastating to her,” Bradley said.

Even if it meant staying in prison, Smith said she never would have admitted to a crime she didn’t commit.

Smith said she can’t be angry at the children who leveled the accusations against her.

“They’re just victims of their environment,” she said. “How can I be angry at those kids? They were little children whose parents were telling them to say these things.”

Smith said she was shocked when she was first confronted by Lorain police with the allegations that she had molested the kids on her bus route.

“I just could not believe anybody was making those allegations against me,” she said. “It was just unbelievable.”

Now that she’s putting her life back together, Smith said she would never work with someone else’s children again. Smith, who painted a lot in prison, said she might like to pursue a career in floral design.

Bradley said Smith also plans to work to get her story out and explain that sometimes innocent people are convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.

“Our justice system is not perfect, and that system can make mistakes,” he said.

Smith said she is still getting reacquainted with the changes in the world that have happened while she’s been locked up. The former bus driver doesn’t use a computer and has yet to get her driver’s license back.

“It’s going to take me one day at a time,” she said.

As he left Burge’s courtroom Wednesday, Allen didn’t specify any plans.

“I’ll keep on praising God,” he said.

K. Ronald Bailey, Allen’s attorney, said he plans to review state laws to see what, if any, compensation his client is entitled to for being wrongfully imprisoned. Allen, who was freed by Burge in April while he awaited resentencing, would have been returned to prison for life. He wasn’t eligible for parole until 2056 under the terms of his original sentence.

Bradley said he and Smith haven’t discussed seeking compensation from the state.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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