A prisoner who studied law to release himself from prison

A prisoner who studied law to release himself from prison

few fates are worse than spending years

even decades in prison for a crime you

did not commit life grinds to a halt

your freedom is non-existent family and

friends might well abandon you and

you're treated as the lowest of the low

all through absolutely no fault of your

own the more fortunate ones eventually

get exonerated though many tend to

retreat into anonymity once they're free

this was not the case for Jared Adams an

innocent man convicted of rape and

sentenced to decades in prison he not

only learned the law to get himself out

of the hole but he turned that knowledge

into a successful law career designed to

help people in the same situation

he was once trapped in in 1998 17

year-old Adams attended a party at the

University of Wisconsin and got intimate

with one of the women there three weeks

later police showed up at his Chicago

home to arrest him for raping the woman

the only problem everything about their

night together was consensual

naively he thought the truth would be

enough to set him free this did not

happen he was sent to Wisconsin for

trial and could not afford an attorney

his court-appointed lawyer was

incompetent and argued that the best

defense was incredibly enough no defense

no witnesses no arguments no nothing the

idea this lawyer claimed was to put the

burden of proof on the prosecution Adams

who at the time knew nothing of the

legal system outside from what I saw on

shows like Law & Order went along with

it he figured that since he didn't do it

the courts couldn't prove anything he

hadn't counted on one factor though

racism Adams was black the jury was

white and they didn't let a little thing

like no evidence stop them from

convicting him of rape the judge in

lockstep sentence Adams to 28 years in

prison

of course Adams was devastated but he

wouldn't rot in his cell for long his

cellmate who worked at the prison law

library knew his new bunk mates

conviction was racist and urged him to

not give up and to fight for his freedom

Adams quickly agreed and spent his time

learning everything he could about the

law eventually he found a Supreme Court

case that affirmed everybody has the

constitutional right to effective

counsel something Adams knew he never

got during his trial he contacted the

Wisconsin chapter of the Innocence

Project a nonprofit dedicated to

fighting for the freedom of the

wrongfully convicted they took on his

case both because it seemed like one

they could fight and win but also

because Adams seemed to know as much

about the law as they did this was no

longer the same scared kid who trusted

the clean outcomes of scripted courtroom

drama

finally in 2005 the courts agreed that

Adams had bad Council and his conviction

never should have happened

with that he was a free man but he was

also a changed man not content to just

disappear with his freedom he wanted to

help others who were wasting away in

jail for crimes they didn't do he

enrolled in college shortly after being

set free a journey that culminated in

his graduating law school in 2015 in the

summer of 2016 he found himself hired by

the most appropriate of companies the

Innocence Project they had helped free

him and now he would get the chance to

work with them and help free others like

him the very next year he scored his

first victory a Wisconsin man named

Richard Beranek had been incarcerated

since 1990 on a bogus rape conviction

despite having multiple alibis an FBI

agent insisted his hair was found at the

scene that was enough for the jury to

convict Adams in the innocence project

proved using DNA evidence

the FBI's analysis of the hair was

incorrect with that Farra neck was a

free man for the first time in 27 years

the victory doubled as personal

vindication for Adams who fought for

baronet's freedom in the same courtroom

that had convicted Adams of rape in 1988

as he explained nothing pays me back

more or my family than me walking in the

same court in the same state where they

didn't even look at me when they gave me

28 years but now they have to

acknowledge me as Attorney Adams Adams

fight for the wrongfully convicted

continues he is currently working to

fight for two Virginian men serving life

in prison for the murder of a police

officer even though they were acquitted

of the murder

in 1998 Terrence Richardson and firown'

Claiborne were arrested for the shooting

of a cop both took plea deals that

resulted in little to no jail time

public outrage convinced the FBI to

re-arrest them this time with federal

charges of both murder and distribution

of crack cocaine the jury found the pair

guilty of distribution but acquitted

them of the murder however the judge

sentenced them to life in prison anyway

using their initial state level plea as

justification for doing so Adams

alongside the Innocence Project is

currently looking into documents never

shared with the federal court that could

clear Richardson and claybournes names

at long last

when not fighting for people's freedom

Adams is also helping those who have

been freed get the help they need to

live a real life as one of the

cofounders of the nonprofit life after

justice Adams recognizes that most

people freed from a wrongful conviction

received nothing from the prison

to help adjust to outside life he works

tirelessly to secure the newly freed

things like housing job training tech

skills mental and physical health care

financial advice education and anything

else they need to make it in a world

that has in many cases completely

forgotten about them

Jared Adams is proof that should you

lose everything through no fault of your

own it doesn't mean the end of the world

for you you could bounce back as he did

and not only win your life back but

build an even better one than you had

before

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