“I like to share my story because I was in hell, and the Innocence Project saved me from that hell. Unfortunately, others still are going through that hell, and they need help — together, we can get them out of that nightmare.”

On March 10, 2015, Angel Gonzalez was exonerated after serving over 20 years in prison for a rape that he did not commit.

In 1994, Mr. Gonzalez was misidentified as the attacker when police used a highly unreliable and suggestive identification procedure. After he was arrested, he was misled by police into signing a false confession. Despite having four alibi witnesses testify in his defense in court, Mr. Gonzalez was wrongly convicted of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Although Mr. Gonzalez maintained his innocence from the beginning, it wasn’t until 2013 that he was finally able to prove his innocence through DNA testing. Today, he is a member of the Innocence Project’s Exoneree Advisory Council.

“Unpacking our experiences through hardship and trauma is part of healing. I share my story out loud and in public in order to do this unpacking on a continuous basis. In doing so, I can also be an example to others not to fear doing such self-reflections.”

In May 2017, Carlos Sanchez was released after spending nearly 25 years — more than half of his life — in prison for a murder he maintains he did not commit.

Mr. Sanchez was only 17, when, after an eight-hour interrogation by police without a lawyer or guardian present, he signed a confession taking responsibility for the 1992 murder of his girlfriend. The confession was the only evidence linking him to the crime, and it was obtained under conditions now known to be associated with false confessions. The statement was also at odds with physical evidence collected in the case.

In January 2017, Mr. Sanchez was granted parole. He is still fighting to prove his innocence.

“While I will never be able to regain the many years I lost in prison, I hope that my experience will motivate our lawmakers to pass the eyewitness identification reform bill so that others don’t have to suffer like I did.”

On April 4, 2011, Cornelius Dupree was exonerated after spending more than 30 years in prison for a 1979 rape and robbery he didn’t commit.

One week after the attack, Mr. Dupree, alongside Anthony Massingill, was stopped by police who claimed both men fit the general description of two other Black men who were suspected in a separate sexual assault case. After their photos were submitted for an identification lineup, Mr. Dupree and Mr. Massingill were misidentified as the attackers in the rape and robbery case. They were convicted in 1980, and Mr. Dupree was subsequently sentenced to 75 years in prison.

In 2010, DNA testing conclusively excluded both men as possible sources of DNA found on the survivor. The district attorney’s office agreed that the DNA evidence established Mr. Dupree’s evidence, and he was granted habeas corpus relief by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

“After being wrongfully convicted. I feel it is my responsibility to inform the public about wrongful convictions. The injustice of wrongful convictions still surprises the public on how this could happen to an innocent person.”

On April 3, 2003, Eddie Lowery had his conviction vacated and his case dismissed after spending nine years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

In July 1981, a 74-year-old woman was attacked while sleeping in her home in Ogden, Kansas. Mr. Lowery was brought in for questioning and was interrogated all day without food so that police could procure a confession. Although he later recanted the statements, he was wrongly convicted in 1982 based on the confession and the misapplication of forensic science.

In 2002, Mr. Lowery was able to procure DNA testing on the biological evidence, and in September of that year, DNA test results confirmed his claim of innocence.

“I share my 18-year survival story not only to prevent what happened to me from happening to others but also to inspire audiences to leave better after my talks.”

“After being falsely arrested and convicted, I realized my strongest weapon is my voice. I would like to use it to enlighten, inspire, and ultimately change our fractured criminal justice system.”

On Jan. 24, 2019, Huwe Burton was exonerated after spending 19 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

At 16 years old, Mr. Burton was convicted of the 1989 murder of his mother, who had been found stabbed to death in their New York City home. His conviction was largely based on a false confession that had been coerced by detectives.

A joint reinvestigation between the Innocence Project and the Bronx District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit uncovered that detectives from New York’s 47th precinct had coerced Mr. Burton into falsely confessing. Furthermore, additional new evidence surfaced about an alternate person who committed the crime. Ultimately, Mr. Burton carried his wrongful conviction for nearly 28 years before he was exonerated.

“The opportunity to speak of all the things that a person who becomes free, exonerated, beginning a new life is cathartic [especially when it comes to] setting the story straight after hearing for decades lies told about you.”

On April 23, 2007, Jerry Miller was exonerated after spending more than 24 years wrongly incarcerated for a rape that he did not commit in Illinois. He was wrongly convicted in 1982 of a rape he did not commit in Chicago largely based on eyewitness misidentification. In 2005, the Innocence Project took on Mr. Miller’s case and conducted DNA testing, which implicated another man in the case.

Mr. Miller is the 200th person in the U.S. exonerated through DNA evidence.

“Being part of the Speakers Bureau allows everyone in the U.S. and around the world to hear my story as an exoneree and understand the impact it has on inspiring students, attorneys, judges, and politicians to engage in this historical movement of turning injustices into justice by exonerating the wrongfully convicted.”

On Jan. 24 2017, Johnny Hincapie was exonerated in New York after spending 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

Mr. Hincapie was wrongly convicted in 1991 largely based on a coerced confession, police misconduct, and inadequate defense. In 2013, Mr. Hincapie’s attorneys filed a post-conviction petition for a new trial, presenting new witness testimony confirming he was not involved in the murder. In 2015, a New York judge conducted a series of evidentiary hearings on the petition and later overturned Mr. Hincapie’s conviction. Two years later, prosecutors dismissed the charges.

Today, Mr. Hincapie, a gifted speaker, shares his powerful story and educates audiences across the United States on coerced confessions and criminal justice reform.

“The more different ways wrongful conviction can have light shine upon them, the truth can be revealed. The Speakers Bureau is a great way to reveal the truth of wrongful convictions.”

On April 8, 2016, Keith Allen Harward was granted a writ of actual innocence by the Virginia Supreme Court after wrongly spending more than 33 years of a life sentence for a rape and murder he did not commit.

Despite testifying and presenting evidence that he didn’t match the rape survivor’s description, Mr. Harward was wrongly convicted of capital murder in 1982 based on forensic dentists’ testimony that his teeth matched the bite marks on the survivor.

In 2015, the Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of physical evidence in Mr. Harward’s case, which definitively proved his innocence and pointed to another man as the actual attacker. He is one of eight people whose story is in the Innocence Project-inspired Netflix docuseries The Innocence Files.

“They said if I was there and if I went along with it, that I could go home. And that’s all I wanted. That’s all I wanted, was to go home.”

On Dec. 19, 2002, Korey Wise — a member of the Exonerated Five — had his conviction overturned in New York after wrongly serving 11.5 years for a rape he did not commit in Central Park in 1989.

Mr. Wise, along with Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, and Raymond Santana, was wrongly convicted in 1990 based on false confessions and the misapplication of forensic science. At the time of their arrest, they were between 14 and 16 years old. In 2002, the actual attacker, who had already been serving a sentence for a series of rapes, murder, and robbery, confessed that he alone had committed the 1989 rape. DNA testing was then conducted on the crime scene evidence and corroborated the attacker’s confession.

Twenty years after Mr. Wise’s exoneration, the entrance to Central Park where he and the other members of the Exonerated Five had entered on the night of the attack was renamed the Gate of the Exonerated in their honor.

“Being on the Speaker’s Bureau has allowed me to meet a wide variety of people and realize that our stories have the ability to inspire people in unique ways.”

On March 21, 2012, Kristine Bunch had her conviction reversed in Indiana after wrongly serving more than 17 years for a 1995 fire that claimed her three-year-old son’s life.

Ms. Bunch was convicted in 1996 largely based on unreliable arson evidence. During her time in prison, she earned her undergraduate degrees in English and anthropology from Ball State University. In 2012, the Court of Appeals of Indiana reversed her conviction, ruling that she was entitled to a new trial due to evolving fire science and previously undisclosed evidence that contradicted a forensic analyst’s testimony at her trial.

Today, Ms. Bunch advocates for exonerees and co-runs a nonprofit organization called Justice4JustUs, which connects exonerated individuals to social and medical services to help them rebuild their lives.

“I support the IP because of their big hearts — they believe there are innocent people incarcerated, and they believe in me. That is why I will take every opportunity I get to educate those unfamiliar with the IP.”

On January 30, 2018, Malcolm Alexander was exonerated in Louisiana of a 1979 rape he did not commit. A reinvestigation by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, the Innocence Project, and the Innocence Project New Orleans led to DNA testing of hair evidence that proved his innocence.

Mr. Alexander was wrongly convicted in 1980 and sentenced to life without parole largely based on eyewitness misidentification and an inadequate defense. He subsequently served 38 years in prison before he was released.