Innocent Man Who Survived 22 Years On Death Row Tells Of His Experience

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Nick Yarris was sentenced in 1981, for the rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig and served 22 years in solitary confinement before being released from death row in 2004. Yarris was confined to his cell for 23 hours a day for 22 very long years, and read around 9,400 books as he educated himself about the law so he could prove his lack of guilt. "I was showing them an unbelievable brilliance beyond what they would expect," Yarris said. "When they imagine someone on death row, they think of some terrible loser guy, who isn't going to have anything to say. "They don't think it's going to be someone that would wow them, and I have."

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In 1981, at age 20, Yarris was arrested for the kidnap and murder of a police officer after being pulled over in a stolen car. To get off the charges, his drug-laden mind decided to tell officers that he knew who had murdered a woman, Linda Mae Craig, whose case he had seen covered in the papers. He gave them the name of a man he thought was dead, but after his lie was caught, Yarris was charged with the crimes himself.

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In 1988, when DNA testing was first introduced, Yarris made his first attempt at clearing his name. However, he spent many more years inside jail awaiting the results of his DNA test after the sample he gave the lab broke. And in 2002, when Yarris was at the end of his ropes he finally begged the judge if he could die. But before doing so the judge asked if the DNA could be tested one last time.

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And after 22 long years Yarris was found not-guilty of the crimes with which he was charged and so he was released, a free man once again. Yarris received compensation upon his release, which he called 'pity money', and is now on his way to Hollywood to film a biopic about his life. Now that's the smile of a freeman!