Christopher Scott on how he survived nightmare of a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit
06.30.16 By Kavish Harjai
Christopher Scott, an exoneree from Dallas, Texas stopped by the Innocence Project office on Wednesday afternoon to speak to the staff and Cardozo Law clinic students about what led to his wrongful conviction, how he survived 13 years as an innocent man in prison and the road to exoneration.
Scott was convicted of murder in 1997 and exonerated in 2009. Since then, he and two other Texas-based exonerees founded House of Renewed Hope, an organization dedicated to investigating the cases of wrongfully convicted people.
Scott also spoke about the forthcoming documentary film, True Conviction, directed by Jamie Meltzer, which is about the House of Renewed Hope.
Follow him on Twitter @HRenewedHope
Related: Interview with Texas Exoneree Christopher Scott: ‘I kept hope alive that one day I was going to be free.’
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November 24, 2020 at 2:51 am
June 27, 2020 at 3:10 pm
Listening to the story on the Moth was really moving, particularly in light of current events. I am a liberal white guy married to a mixed-race Latina whose mom is black enough to have experienced harsh racism when her white soldier husband moved the family from Panama to Tennesee in the 1970s. I have always believed that cops and prosecutors and judges and jurors are racist and biased. So I am thrilled how the BLM movement has convinced (for now anyway) a lot more white people about this reality. I just made a donation and will try to give more later. Also planning to watch the movie. Good luck and God bless you.
These days, people are convicted by the press, whether the courts do or not, with an obvious end-goal of ruining a person’s life so they will never be able to function in society again. This is how the 6 legacy news organizations promote their legal agenda.
This only perpetuates crime, where crime was the issue in the first place, or instigates crime where an innocent person can find no other way to subsist in the face of this great undue adversity.
It can be devestating but, as one person whom had been convicted put it: “You have to look for all the things you can do instead of all the things you cannot do because of the [media, in this case]”.