After Innocence: James Waller Speaks About What Exoneration Feels Like

Law

00000177-6edd-df44-a377-6fff43300000Hundreds, possibly thousands of people in the U.S. have been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Some of them spent decades behind bars or on death row before being declared innocent. Many of them still remain imprisoned.The Innocence Network is an affiliation of organizations that work to free innocent people from prison. In April 2013, over 100 exonerees gathered in Charlotte for the Innocence Network Conference. 瓜神app sat down with ten exonerees to hear about their experiences for the After Innocence: Exoneraton In America web series. Below you can watch all ten videos at once or get the individual stories from the exonerees (their individual video will be linked to each full story). Watch the 10 videos - click to play all:00000177-6edd-df44-a377-6fff43300003Here are all the individual stories:

After Innocence: James Waller Speaks About What Exoneration Feels Like

瓜神app | By Laura Candler

Published June 13, 2013 at 6:00 AM EDT

鈥淭he worst thing you can be is a sex offender because it鈥檚 dirt that you can鈥檛 wash off.鈥�

Those words were spoken by James Waller in an interview with 瓜神app at the in Charlotte in April. Waller spent decades in prison and on parole after being wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy. When he went to jail, he was 23. When he was exonerated in 2007, he was 50.

鈥淥nce I got into prison, I had to let all the anger go,鈥� Waller said. 鈥淏ecause I otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have been able to work on my case. And being angry wasn鈥檛 going to do me any good.鈥�

http://youtu.be/otn9pTca5lI

Waller鈥檚 conviction was based almost entirely on the word of the victim, a 12-year-old boy who misidentified Waller as a rapist. In 1982 the boy was raped in his home, and when questioned by police, the victim initially described the offender as about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds. Waller was 6 feet 4 and much heavier. At the time of the crime, he was in his own apartment asleep beside his girlfriend, a claim that both she and Waller鈥檚 roommate confirmed. Despite their claims and the victim鈥檚 initial description, Waller was convicted of the crime and served ten years in prison before being let out on parole.

But Waller was not satisfied with parole. He wanted to be cleared of his sex offender status, and he saved up money for a DNA test. When the Innocence Project took on his case, they helped Waller prove his innocence with his DNA results, which did not match the DNA associated with the perpetrator. He was exonerated in 2007.

鈥淚t was like the whole world was lifted off of your shoulders,鈥� Waller said of that moment. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been carrying this around for so long. And now, it鈥檚 all gone.鈥�

Waller has gone on to write and talk about his experiences. One of his essays was included in the book , which contains essays from Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He is currently the president of the , a non-profit organization that offers housing, educational and vocational training, counseling and other services to exonerees.

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