Jeffrey Deskovic is celebrating the second anniversary of his release from prison after he was wrongfully convicted of raping and killing a high school classmate in 1989.

Deskovic spent 16 years behind bars for a crime he didn?t commit, and two years later, he expressed frustration with his attempts to readjust to society.

?I always knew there was a world out there because I read a lot of books while I was in prison, but it?s a lot different when you?re there in person,? he says.

DNA exonerated Deskovic, and the new evidence led to his release from prison on Sept. 20, 2006. He was serving a 15-year-to-life sentence for raping and killing Angela Correa in 1989. At the time, 16-year-old Deskovic confessed to the crime after seven hours of interrogation by police.

Now that his legal nightmare is behind him, Deskovic says he's found a new mission in life.

?I've lobbied senators and testified at hearings just for reforms to prevent this from happening to other people,? he says.

But the road isn't an easy one for him, although he?s managed to get on with his life.

Deskovic does speaking engagements, writes for a local paper and lives in his own apartment in Tarrytown. He graduated from Mercy College with a bachelor's in behavioral science and plans to go to law school.

He?ll speak to a group of Westchester forensic scientists on Oct. 3, and for the first time, he?ll meet the man who ran the DNA test that led to his release.

Despite his newfound mission, the loss of 16 years to wrongful imprisonment makes Deskovic think about what could have been.

?Sometimes it's frustrating ? trying to get my life on track at an older age where I was supposed to get things done,? he says. ?My education was supposed to be finished. I was supposed to have a job, a career, maybe have a family.?