Hey YouTube, Jim here.
Welcome to Top10 Archive!
It’s everyone’s worst nightmare – being locked up for a crime that they didn’t commit.
Imagine spending years behind bars knowing that you’re completely innocent of the heinous
crime you’ve been accused of, but nobody listens to your pleas?
These ten people know that feeling all-too-well, and when they finally do prove their innocence,
their reactions are nothing short of heart-wrenching.
But before we get started, why not become an archivist today by clicking that subscribe
button and notification bell so you don't miss out on any future uploads!
If you end up enjoying this video, let us know by giving it a thumbs up and in the comment
section, tell us how you think innocent people who serve time should be compensated!
10.
8 Years For Murder Davontae Sanford was just 15-years-old when
he was locked up for the murder of four people.
While he was still 14 he was arrested for a slaying at a Detroit drug den and was allegedly
coerced into making his confession.
Despite being him blind in one eye, barely able to read or write, and making numerous
attempts to recant his confession, Sanford was shown no leniency and was jailed for a
minimum of 39 years.
He was finally freed when a professional hit man came forward and confessed to the four
killings.
He finally told the truth while already serving 52 years in prison for eight other killings,
and he told detectives that he would never take on someone like Sanford as a sidekick.
Police working the original case were accused of flawed work that led to the conviction
of the teenager.
Sanford walked out of prison with his brother and can be seen smiling quietly to himself
as he finally gets to make his long-awaited journey back home.
He later spoke to the press, telling them that he never doubted that one day he'd be
a free man.
9.
9 Years For Murder This 16-years-old was jailed for 38 years
after being coerced into making a false confession.
Bobby Johnson ended up pleading guilty to murder but it was shown that his IQ was below
the mental impairment line during his trial.
In 2006, Johnson was arrested for the shooting of a 70-year-old man during an apparent robbery
in New Haven.
His defense attorney had spent years trying to free Johnson, stating that there was lots
of evidence available before he was arrested, but that it was ignored.
He also told reporters that Johnson broke down crying during police questioning and
that the teenage boy was promised probation if he confessed.
Clearly overwhelmed by his release, Johnson says he’s going to look for a job but will
first focus on spending time with his family after being kept away from them for so long.
8.
16 Years For Rape Luis Vargas was jailed for rape that he didn’t
commit after DNA evidence linked him to the 1998 case.
Vargas, of California, was mistakenly found guilty of a crime that was actually committed
by an unidentified attacker known as ‘The Teardrop Rapist’.
The unidentified assailant sexually assaulted 35 women including minors in LA between 1996
and 2012.
His moniker came from witness accounts that he had a teardrop tattoo under his eye.
In 1999, Vargas was sentenced to 55 years in prison for three counts of sexual assault.
All three victims identified Vargas as the attacker because he had the same teardrop
tattoo, but despite his conviction, he always maintained his innocence throughout his time
locked up.
After appeals resulted in no success, Vargas contacted the California Innocence Project,
who re-tested the original DNA and found that it didn’t match him.
Vargas was eventually released in 2015 after serving 16 years as an entirely innocent man,
and his reaction was nothing short of a huge relief.
His daughter’s reaction was equally heartbreaking, and she was so confident in her father’s
innocence that she waited to get married until his release.
7.
17 Years For Murder Susan Mellen, the only woman on this list,
was freed from prison in 2014 after serving 17 years for a murder she never committed.
Mellen, of Los Angeles, had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole
for the killing of transient Richard Daly in 1997.
She was convicted solely on the testimony of an alleged witness, but Mellen’s defense
team argued repeatedly that there were many inconsistencies with the statement that was
made.
Mellen had three children at the time of her arrest, and the eldest was left to raise her
younger siblings while fighting to get her mom out of prison.
Mellen was full of forgiveness and hope when she gave an interview to press just after
her release.
She was clearly overwhelmed by her freedom but she told the crowd that she never lost
hope that one day she’d be freed.
Three gang members were eventually linked to the crime, and one of them was convicted
of
the killing.
6.
18 Years For Rape And Murder Steven Avery is perhaps the most famous case
of an innocent man being released from prison.
In 1985 he was sentenced to 32 years behind bars for the rape and attempted murder of
a female jogger.
He served 18 years, until in 2003, new DNA testing proved that Avery was innocent of
the crime.
He was finally released, much to the joy of his mom.
Avery was 43 when he finally won his freedom, but by that time his wife had divorced him
and the new-born twin sons that he had just before his arrest were grown.
Avery was clearly overjoyed to be free but made it clear that he feels no anger towards
the woman who wrongly accused him.
His focus is clearly on enjoying a second chance at life, and his press interview proves
that forgiveness is possible in even the most devastating of circumstances.
As fans of the Netflix series Making a Murderer may know, this wasn’t the end of Avery’s
story and he’s currently behind bars for the alleged murder of another woman just two
years after his release.
5.
East Cleveland 3 freed after 20 years Eugene Johnson, Derrick Wheatt and Laurese
Glover, otherwise known as the East Cleveland Three, were finally set free in 2015 after
spending 20 years behind bars for a murder none of them committed.
The three men were locked up for shooting another teenager to death in 1995, but finally,
the truth would come out.
Two leading officers were found to have violated the civil rights of the men when it came to
light that they had withheld police reports containing favorable witness statements.
They’d also been found to have coerced a 14-year-old witness into implicating the men.
The witness later recanted their statement, and the men’s lawyers also found that evidence
that someone else was the shooter was kept out of court.
After 20 years, the men were finally granted their freedom by a judge who had been following
their case since the beginning of her career.
The men cried tears of relief after living a nightmare for so long, and their families
celebrated in court and gave emotional interviews to the press.
Each man has been awarded $5 million in compensation, but I doubt that’ll make up for the loss
of their youth and their liberty at the hands of crooked cops.
4.
21 Years For Murder In 1967, James Joseph Richardson was wrongly
convicted of killing his seven children by poisoning.
The crime, which happened in Florida, shocked the entire country and Richardson, a migrant
farm worker, was immediately the prime suspect.
Instead of being able to mourn the deaths of his beloved children, Richardson was found
guilty by an all-white jury and wrongly locked up for their killings.
Sentenced to death, Richardson spent five years on death row until 1972 when Florida’s
laws changed and the sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Richardson was due to be up for parole in 1993, but in 1989 new evidence came to light
which cleared him of any wrongdoing.
He was immediately released and awarded $1.2 million for the loss of 21 years of his life.
It was actually a neighbor, Bessie Reece, that allegedly killed the children after she
was left in charge of feeding them lunch on that fateful day.
It was finally revealed that at the time of the killings, Reece was on parole for killing
her ex-husband with poison.
3.
29 Years For Rape And Kidnapping After serving almost three decades in prison
for a crime that he didn’t commit, Raymond Towler finally walked free in 2010.
In May 1981, an 11-year-old girl and her cousin were walking when they were lured to a wooded
area by a man claiming there was an injured deer that needed their help.
When the two children followed him the man pulled out a gun and assaulted the boy before
raping the young girl.
Towler was stopped for running a stop sign a few weeks later, and the police officer
noticed that he resembled the composite sketch of the rapist.
The victims and other witnesses identified Towler from a photo lineup and despite having
an alibi he was sent to prison for life.
As the judge fought back tears and Towler’s representatives did the same, the man himself
simply said “wow” before giving a heartwarmingly positive interview.
2.
36 Years
For Murder Michael Hanline was locked up in 1978 and
was finally released after 36 years in November 2014.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, after wrongly being found guilty
of first-degree murder.
In November 1978, a biker by the name of J.T McGarry disappeared from his California home
before being found shot dead a few days later.
Hanline was arrested for the killing, but it was discovered that his case had been grossly
unfair.
A defense attorney that represented many of the prosecution's witnesses had threatened
them into testifying against Hanline, and one even falsely placed him in J.T’s home
on the night of the murder.
Hanline’s first steps of freedom are wonderful to watch, and he’s clearly overwhelmed by
finally being outside.
His first stop: "the burger that he’d seen in the commercials", of course.
A 1/2 pound bacon burger from Carls Jr. 1.
Released after serving 39 years for murder Ricky Jackson was freed after serving a grueling
39 years for a murder he didn’t commit.
In May 1975, a businessman was murdered outside a grocery store where he was delivering money
orders.
Two black men were reported to have beat the man and thrown acid in his face, before shooting
him dead.
The case against Jackson and two other men was built around the testimonial of a 12-year-old
boy who said he saw the men commit the crime.
Jackson had never been in trouble with the law before but that didn’t matter to the
courts, and in 1977, he was sentenced to death for the murder he didn’t commit.
That charge was later commuted to life imprisonment, and after the only witness to the crime finally
came forward and admitted he was lying about what he saw, Jackson’s conviction was finally
overturned in 2014.
Jackson’s quiet relief as he’s freed is beautiful to watch, and his following interview
is full of hope.
He’s even forgiving of the person whose testimony sent him to prison in the first
place, speaking of the courage it took for them to come forward and tell
the truth.