Chapter 9

Typically appeals court hearings don’t draw that much interest from the press or people in general, but in my case, it was just the opposite. DNA had become a hot topic of discussion, and this was going to potentially be a landmark case.

Due to her lack of experience, the ACLU had planned on bringing in some of their more experienced lawyers, but I nixed that idea, telling them that Michelle got us this far and that she had my full confidence.

The hearing (it wasn’t a trial, rather, just a hearing where both sides got to show evidence and call witnesses) took the better part of three weeks. We brought in science experts who re-examined the knife and found traces of Lisa’s DNA on the hilt. Other experts were able to, using the official photographs and something called 3-D modeling, reconstruct how the knife went in first and pierced the heart, killing the girl before the bullet entered her body. Finally, a prison guard stepped forward and testified that Jarden, on the same day that I killed him, told the guard that he had stabbed one girl to death.

Being cleared of Lisa’s death was just the first step. The second step was convincing the Governor to grant clemency. Surprisingly, that was relatively easy, made so by the widespread public cry for justice for someone wrongly imprisoned. The argument was that I would not have killed Jarden if I had not been wrongly imprisoned in the first place.

The Governor signed my release papers on December 19th. I had been incarcerated for nearly 8 years. When I was released, I was given an amount of money from the General Fund that was set aside for wrongful imprisonment. I had to sign paperwork stating that I would not reveal the amount that I received or any other details. It didn’t make me rich, but it was eight years’ worth of salary and interest, so I had enough to get a place to stay and not be homeless.

Michelle and her husband both invited me over for Christmas dinner. He was a stand-up guy, a pediatric physician, and while there, Michelle told me that they were having a second child. It was a very nice dinner. I was asked what I planned to do, and I said that I didn’t have a clue. I told them that I did get an offer from Columbia to lecture periodically as a “professor emeritus” and that I was considering that, plus other offers.

I told Michelle that she, in a sense, had saved my life and that I owed her everything. She countered by saying that it was I who gave her life direction, that without meeting me, she would never have become a lawyer, met her husband, and generally had a good life that she was now enjoying. We hugged and promised to stay in touch.