Detroiter Duane Williams is suing the city of Detroit and the police and fire departments for $100 million in damages over his wrongful conviction in 2013.

Williams was sentenced to life in prison in connection with a fire that killed two people.

He spent over 11 years behind bars before a judge ordered that Williams be released last year due to the conviction being tainted by false and manipulated testimony. Williams’ attorney, Todd Flood, says investigators lied about a lighter found at the source of the fire that killed two people.

“It was an accidental fire. The fire started on a couch in that room where one of the decedents was severely intoxicated. He was a known smoker, and there was smoking materials found in that room, on that couch,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

“I’m a prosecutor at heart, I’m a law enforcement guy at heart; I’m a person that stands for integrity,” Flood said. “This shocks the conscience when you look at this lawsuit and you see the people that ultimately conspired to put Dwayne behind bars.”

Williams says he still has mental scars from his near decade spent in prison, describing the difficulties just walking down the street can bring.

“I just kept telling myself, don’t look back, because in prison, you don’t want anybody walking behind you, and you don’t know who it is,” he said. “But I wasn’t in prison. I was free, and I tried so hard not to look back, but I had to stop and look back. I couldn’t help it.”

He said his time spent in prison has also forever changed his relationship with his wife and family.

“People think that the court systems work. People think that the systems that are in place, the appeals process and all these other things, work,” Williams said. “But they don’t work when you’re the person in the system, and that’s sad, and I pray that we’ll find a way to fix that.”

City officials have not responded to the lawsuit and said they will not comment on pending litigation.