Category: The Rave Board
Last year, a few weeks before new years eve, I came upon a story in the L.A. Times which talked about a young 27 year old man who had been encarcerated since 1996 for a crime he didn't commit. As I read about the crime and about the background of this young man, I became more and more convinced that I knew him. I went back to read his name again: it was the same as that of a friend I had throughout school. He had been convicted of murder, but he never changed his claim that he was innocent. The new story was old, about 3 months or so, but I read that he was released November 2006 after his case was thrown out. All the evidence against him was based on eyewitness testimony. As i was reading the details of his life; the kind of music he listened to as a teenager, the type of person he was, the name of some of his relatives, the street where he had lived, I was hoping that it wasn't him. I mean, I can just imagine how awful such an experience must be. The new article had many good things to say about him; in prison he had learned how to write poetry, how to write short stories and plays, he was an intellectual, and some other things that I didn't know he liked to do. At first I thought it couldn't be him because I didn't know him as a talkative or intelligent person; he was quiet and did a lot of drugs. But the article spoke of some of the things he had done in prison; he wrote and participated in plays, he led poetry readings. I thought it couldn't be him. But it was the same name and everything. Then just a few days ago, on the internet, I saw his picture. Yup, it's him alright! I don't know how to contact him though. I wish I had known that he had been in there all this time; I would've written to him. A movie has been made about his ordeal. Some nun helped him find a good defense team; she's done this sort of thing for other poor defendants. I'm just glad he's out now. I think I'm going to try to contact him, I'm pretty sure that bastard will remember me.
That's lousy news, that it happened; and that's great news that it ended the way it did.
I hope you are able to contact him and that he remembers you. Please keep us updated, and if any of us can help (with internet searches) or the like, please let us know.
Way to go Raskolnikov.
Bob
You said the newspaper article had quite a bit of personal info about him, so you shouldn't have too much trouble locating him I wouldn't think. Like Bob said, let us know what happens.
Wow! I'm sorry he had to go through all that. I can't imagine the feeling of being incarcerated for a crime you ddin't commit. Usually we get upset when we're even mildly accused of something we didn't do, let alone when imprisoned for it. Your friend must have a lot of inner strength to get through that. I'm glad to hear that he's out now, and hope you can make contact. He could probably use hearing from a friend right now, while he's putting his life back together. Keep us posted!