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Exonerated - Jarrett Adams, Spent 8 Years Behind Bars After Being Accused Of Sexual Assault — Transcript

by The Clay Cane Show · 7,293 words · 1,140 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00what an amazing story you have and you
0:02also have a very successful story you're
0:04now a lawyer for the innocence project
0:06but i'd like to always start here
0:08yeah tell me the young man that you were
0:11really the teenager that you were
0:13before all this happened to you uh back
0:15when you were 17 years old in 1998
0:20will do and and thank you again and so
0:22now um i am i'm an attorney i have my
0:25own firm but i did pass through the
0:27innocence project uh just wanted to make
0:29sure i put that out there so people
0:30understood but look i was no different
0:32than any any south side kid from the
0:35city of chicago
0:36um you know i was raised by my aunts my
0:39mother
0:40in school
0:41and you know i enjoy reading books as
0:43well as a kid uh sometimes that you know
0:46as a kid you know you you were limited
0:49with resources and so reading books
0:51would take me outside of my community
0:53and and explore um different
0:55neighborhoods through books and so uh i
0:58had an affinity for for for learning you
1:01know for for history you know i've
1:03always been a history buff and looking
1:05at documentaries and things like
1:07had never been arrested before in any
1:09trouble or anything like that um and
1:12just you know just a simple
1:14simple inner city kid childhood is what
1:17i would say i have
1:20now sadly often times when i covered
1:22these stories uh you were accused of of
1:25sexual assault
1:26i'm sure you all are listening you all
1:28can guess what it was uh it was uh it
1:30was white women accusing you and another
1:33another young man
1:35of sexual assault i mean this is this is
1:37a story that goes back at the oldest
1:40time right so jim crow south
1:42mississippi philly
1:44whatever wherever we go it's all over
1:47uh so tell us a little bit about about
1:50this about what happens uh from what i
1:52researched
1:53you uh told your mother that you were
1:55going to a friend's house y'all actually
1:57go to a party um at whitewater campus
2:01this is a college in in wisconsin and
2:04there happened to be two uh white girls
2:06there
2:07and they accuse y'all of sexual assault
2:10give folks some background of what
2:11happened
2:12yeah i mean
2:14so you know again i i
2:16you know come from this this nest you
2:18know of a household where mom and i and
2:21they weren't letting me go to a party in
2:23wisconsin i just graduated high school
2:25they were trying to prepare me to start
2:27junior college and and make my way to a
2:29four-year after that and so i did you
2:32know with me and my friends off
2:34would say we were spending the night
2:35over each other's house and we would
2:37really be going to different parties and
2:38stuff like that because we were we were
2:41high school senior graduates who had
2:43that college party fever um if everyone
2:45listening can know what i mean
2:47i did the same thing brother i did the
2:49same thing several times i'm from philly
2:51i did the same thing yeah
2:53so we we ended up going to this party in
2:56uh whitewater wisconsin wisconsin's
2:58borderline of chicago of illinois and so
3:01it's about an hour you know 30 minutes
3:03uh not not even that much you know going
3:06to this party so we go to this party and
3:08the party has parties everywhere all
3:10over the dorm campus in the dorm room
3:12this was partying before school started
3:15on this campus and so we were engaged
3:17with everything that everyone else was
3:18engaged with we were drinking we were
3:20boozing it up had some marijuana going
3:23and we were invited to um a room where
3:27a consensual encounter turned into an
3:30embarrassing encounter when
3:32one of the young ladies who invited us
3:34up her roommate walked in on this
3:37consensual encounter and it happened to
3:39be on her bed
3:41this started an argument this started
3:43name calling and at the end of this
3:46night
3:47we thought we had all you know had a
3:49good time we say our goodbyes
3:5130 days later i have a card in my door
3:54back in chicago
3:55and it says robbery homicide that they
3:58want to talk to me um about you know a a
4:02robbery and homicide so i called down
4:04because i said for certain they had the
4:07wrong people
4:08and so when i called the guy was like
4:10yeah you know look no alarm
4:12um we never arrested you before you've
4:15never been arrested we want to get your
4:16picture we want to clear your name from
4:18this investigation so i explained to the
4:20officer i'm 17 years old my mom hadn't
4:23made it home yet he says no when is your
4:26birthday i said my birthday is about a
4:27month or two away he said don't worry
4:29about that you just come on down um and
4:32clear your name and we'll we'll have you
4:35out of here and wrapped up before that
4:36before the uh your mom even gets back
4:38you know from work and so i went down
4:41there and when i went down there i woke
4:43myself into an interrogation and i had
4:46absolutely no clue um what i was walking
4:48myself into they asked us about the
4:50party i explained to the officers about
4:53the party had no reason to lie so i did
4:55tell them you know all of
4:58and they told me at the at the end of of
5:00this
5:01interrogation
5:03that i was going to be charged along
5:05with my two friends with five counts of
5:07first degree
5:09assault two counts of imprisonment and
5:11they said that we were accused of
5:13sneaking up a flight of stairs
5:16walking our way into this this dorm room
5:19of this girl
5:20she was
5:21so frightened
5:22frightened by our presence no one
5:24threatened her no one had a weapon but
5:26it was our presence that made her
5:30have a sexual encounter with us
5:33and that
5:34play was the force and threat needed to
5:37meet a sexual assault
5:40i thought for sure
5:41right i thought for sure now i do not
5:44have a law degree
5:45but i know the presence of a black man
5:47alone most certainly couldn't equate to
5:49force
5:50but i was wrong um
5:53in every sense of the word i was wrong
5:55and i realized that our system wasn't
5:58like
5:58the law and order episodes that i
6:00watched from the south side of chicago
6:02as a kid at the end of the episodes you
6:04never saw them saying wait a minute stop
6:07this isn't right you know we're running
6:10um a a trial based on you know nothing
6:13but race and
6:14historical prejudice so
6:16it was a rude awakening
6:19for myself
6:20but it wasn't for my mom and my aunts
6:23and clay while i was going through it
6:26i kept saying to myself
6:28i know i didn't do it you guys know i
6:30didn't do it what are you so worried
6:32about but they were frightened and i saw
6:34it on the creases in anguish on their
6:36foreheads and you know why because see
6:38they had lived on this earth far past my
6:41years they had kept me in that cocoon on
6:44the south side of chicago outside of the
6:46way of the the the in your face racism
6:49and prejudice when you're living within
6:51these cities
6:53you're living within the systematic
6:54structural racism that you can't see
6:57because you're a kid being protected on
6:58the porch and in the bosom of your mom's
7:01you know and usually black mothers who
7:02are raising you know these these
7:04african-american you know young kids and
7:07keeping them out of harm's way and i
7:09never will forget
7:11just to look on their faces and how
7:13terrified and i kept saying to myself
7:16you guys know who you raised why why are
7:18you so terrified see when they saw me
7:21clay
7:22they didn't see the jared adams that
7:23they saw anymore they saw emmett teal
7:26and they knew what was about to happen
7:30right they think of emmett till
7:32they're thinking of rosewood which was a
7:34white woman accusing a black man of
7:37assault they're thinking of tulsa which
7:38was a white woman accusing a black man
7:40of assault and we can go on and on
7:43uh so
7:44as i'm reading the stuff on your case
7:47what is this trial like
7:49i mean it looks clear to me what do i
7:52know i'm not a lawyer but it looks clear
7:54to me
7:55this is inconsistent it's not adding up
7:58so tell me what is this trial what is
8:00this trial like what are you seeing what
8:02are you thinking
8:04how are they able to prove this
8:07so
8:08i can't stress enough
8:10a kid in every sense of the word i'm
8:12literally sitting here
8:14daydreaming at times during the trial
8:16thinking about the chores that i need to
8:17make up for because i've been locked up
8:19waiting on this trial you know for sure
8:21two years right you've been you're
8:23arrested in um november 1998 the trial
8:26doesn't happen until 2000. so you're
8:28behind bars for two years waiting trial
8:30almost two years right waiting waiting
8:33for for this trial
8:35and
8:36you know i um
8:38i just kept thinking that it wasn't
8:40gonna it this wasn't gonna happen clay
8:42and i i just really i really try to i
8:45search for the word sometimes you know
8:47when i think back because now you know
8:49i'm doing the work i'm able to take my
8:50mind off of of so much of the tragedy
8:52that happened to me as i'm doing the
8:54work but when i do these interviews and
8:55i'm able to speak and tell folks and
8:57take folks back i just think about how
8:59scary it was and how um you know i
9:02possibly couldn't have the opportunity
9:03to do it but sitting there in the trial
9:06the only things of color were the
9:08judge's role the suits of the lawyers
9:11and us the defendants and so
9:14while while that was
9:16noticeable to me i just said to myself
9:19you know there's no way people can look
9:22at this
9:23and not see it for what it is you know
9:25these were some these were we were all
9:26kids underage drinking and in a
9:29situation where you know we we never we
9:32weren't we just weren't those kids we
9:33were all three of us were high school
9:35graduates not gangbangers or anything
9:37like that we understand and exactly know
9:39what no means we know what consent means
9:41we know all of that right
9:43and so as i'm listening to this i'm
9:46saying to myself there's no way that a
9:47jury could be
9:48believing this there's no way right but
9:51what i didn't understand was
9:53i wasn't up against what i was accused
9:55of i was up against the historical
9:56depiction you know of young black men as
9:59as wilding as being the savages a lot of
10:01the laws that were created um you know
10:04in the 80s you know wilding out black
10:06kids and a lot of stuff that led to the
10:07central park five a lot of that was what
10:09i was facing i'm in a rural part of
10:12wisconsin where they are
10:15are looking at me
10:17as if i am every news
10:20segment of some black kid committing
10:23crime so it didn't matter
10:25that it didn't make sense
10:27the only thing that mattered to them was
10:29what they knew of young black kids and
10:33they just kept saying to themselves
10:34there's no way
10:36you know that that you know
10:38this white girl would engage in a sexual
10:40encounter with these black with these
10:42black guys there's just no way it's as
10:44if
10:45no one has ever been to a college campus
10:47it's as if people don't want to deal
10:48with the reality that kids and juveniles
10:51do juvenile things but that doesn't
10:53equate to criminal acts but it's some
10:56but but what i've noticed in what i went
10:58through
10:58and what i'm going through now
11:00the fork in the road is what color you
11:02are and how much how many resources you
11:05have that determines whether or not
11:07a a young clay
11:10and jared who act the fool at a party go
11:12to prison and never have a chance to
11:13contribute or whether or not we get a
11:15chance and we look back on it at a board
11:17room party and say you remember that
11:19time clay when me and you acted the food
11:21and daddy had to come and save us some
11:23you know that's the difference
11:25do you know why these these uh young
11:28women
11:29decided the young woman decided to say
11:3130 days later i was raped what was the
11:34what was the reason why she oh
11:37that she came out and said this in
11:38accuser and you all find out a month
11:40later it was a three-page handwritten
11:42statement from a young man who we were
11:44all playing video games with where we
11:46met these two girls
11:48so he wrote a three-page statement that
11:50he gave to the police the very next day
11:53where he said you know remember the
11:55theory was we sneaked up the flight of
11:56stairs we raped somebody and we fled the
11:58building like a scene from rosewood
12:00right
12:01so this kid wrote a three-page statement
12:03and was like that's not what happened
12:04these girls came and said they invited
12:06them up one of them stayed down playing
12:08video games which was me then he went up
12:09to join his friends there was something
12:11that went on argument or whatever all of
12:13them came back downstairs including the
12:15girl who later falsely accused us and
12:18her friend came across the college
12:20campus in a smoking area where we were
12:22all just this was a party clay like no
12:25one was hiding everybody was out so the
12:27roommate
12:28came past the college uh smoke area
12:32where we were all at with this girl and
12:34she was pointing to another friend and
12:35she was like there she is there's the
12:37guys that she was on my bed with you
12:39know having sex you know she's a [ __ ]
12:41she's a dish she's a dad so what
12:42happened was the [ __ ] shaming festered
12:46and now this girl goes and she's like my
12:48roommate is making rumors about me she
12:50said i'm a [ __ ] she doesn't know what
12:52happened i was actually taken advantage
12:54of that night then that person goes to
12:56another person and then all of a sudden
12:58you got the residence assistant there
12:59with the police so it was something that
13:01was so crazy we found out all of this on
13:03the back end
13:05because that's what the 30 days took
13:07because they had to try to explain
13:09why is a white kid that we do not know
13:13we met that night at the party why would
13:14he provide and support our version of
13:16events so they had to do away with that
13:19and they did we never knew anything
13:21about that statement clay until
13:24years later when it was used to help
13:27exonerate us
13:29wow
13:31that is just
13:33that's just crazy that's just wild
13:36so you are convicted march 9 2000 you
13:40are charred you are found guilty of
13:42sexual assault and false imprisonment
13:44and you're sentenced to 28 years when
13:47you hear that at this point i would say
13:50i guess you're 19
13:51yeah when you hear that
13:54what goes through your mind what goes
13:56through your soul
13:58you know i uh
14:00when they say found guilty
14:02you know the the few days before
14:05you know my body had already you know my
14:07spirit had already levitated out of my
14:09body so it was just one of these things
14:10where everything after that point it was
14:13it was surreal
14:15it just wasn't real i started to and
14:18what really what really
14:20what really made it hurt was
14:24the friends that i was going to start
14:25junior college with
14:27they were getting ready for graduation
14:29now
14:30you know junior college is our two years
14:32you go off to the fourth year it was the
14:34path of a lot of us inner city kids and
14:36stuff like that because of the resources
14:38so now i'm getting letters from from my
14:40friends and
14:43their first cars their first credit
14:44cards maxing out their first credit
14:46cards
14:47their new 21 year old driver's license
14:50you know the the the uh
14:53homecoming you know for college when i
14:55was graduating high school that's all i
14:57wanted to do i just wanted to experience
14:59what it was like out of this bad
15:00neighborhood to not have to duck from
15:02gunshots and you know
15:05gross are you hit by a bullet that never
15:07had your name on it and just what was it
15:09like to go to a college to go to a
15:11homecoming get ready for that and i
15:14missed all of it
15:15and so from that point on i started to
15:18do things that would take me outside of
15:21having to deal with the reality so i
15:23started to go play basketball go play
15:25chess it was therapy for me to ignore
15:27the reality of having a mandatory
15:29release in february of 2021.
15:33so
15:34the the hearing of 28 years i was
15:37initially sentenced to serve 20 years in
15:39prison but when i when i was asked did i
15:41have anything to say i i just i lashed
15:43out a bit um
15:46and i said i you know i apologize
15:48but i'm not going to apologize for a
15:50rape that never happened i apologize for
15:52sneaking up to a party not telling my
15:53mom i apologize for you know on a
15:56college campus we were all drinking
15:57nobody's you know of age
16:00but i'm not gonna apologize for being
16:01black i'm not gonna apologize for doing
16:03things that my counterparts do every day
16:05and never go to prison and i'm simply
16:07not going to apologize for a rape that
16:08didn't happen the judge gave me an
16:10additional eight years in prison and
16:12told me that i was not remorseful
16:15wow and and do i have this right didn't
16:18your attorney
16:19have some theory of a
16:21no defense theory do you have this right
16:24and that really
16:27messed you all up explain what the i
16:28never even heard of this before what is
16:30the no defense theory yeah it's not a
16:33theory
16:34it's not a theory at all it's a theory
16:37that
16:39my mother couldn't afford an attorney
16:42and
16:43she couldn't afford an attorney we were
16:45assigned an attorney off of a panel list
16:48of attorneys i don't know if people are
16:50familiar with this but in certain
16:51jurisdictions
16:53there are there are
16:54where the public defenders are
16:55overwhelmed or there or are no public
16:58defender services the courts will create
17:00a panel list of attorneys
17:02in many jurisdictions this panel list of
17:04attorneys are on this panel list because
17:06they can't bring in their own clients so
17:08they get paid when the cases are closed
17:11so do you know why he probably went with
17:14a no defense theory
17:15because he wanted that money
17:20i will admit this
17:23i do believe he knew
17:25he believed that we were innocent
17:28but he did not respect
17:31that he was a white man representing two
17:35three black men accused of raping a
17:36white woman and that was his privilege
17:39that allowed him
17:41to say there's no way any reasonable
17:44person would believe this story
17:46but he didn't equate and account for
17:50the the the
17:52the wound
17:54that has never healed in our society
17:56that is prejudice that is racism that
17:59our jury pools that are made up of
18:00people who could be all white and decide
18:03to fade to black he didn't he tempted
18:05the fate of the real realities of our
18:07prejudice racist system and as a result
18:11he didn't hire an investigator when they
18:13overturned my case the court basically
18:15could have what they should have done
18:17was say that the police were wrong for
18:19withholding the evidence and therefore
18:21overturned it the court instead
18:23admonished my attorney and said
18:26your attorney went with a no defense
18:28theory which is asinine when there were
18:31things to be done and if he would have
18:33hired an investigator he would have
18:35located the college student and we would
18:37have found out about the three-page
18:39statement before we had to find out
18:41about it after we were convicted
18:43so
18:44it was it was it was extremely extremely
18:48um
18:50it was the factor in which we were found
18:52guilty and i remember i just remember
18:54when i was going through it that
18:57you know my mother
18:58would would she would be checking in and
19:01checking out mentally and i didn't
19:03really understand what exactly it was
19:05until as time went on but really what it
19:07was was this imagine this imagine having
19:09you know a child or someone that you
19:11love
19:12and imagine
19:13um
19:14you are you're on land
19:16and you see them you know taking on
19:19water
19:20and there's no way for you to reach them
19:23there's no way for you to grab a branch
19:25you just had to sit there and watch them
19:27take on water you know for my mother
19:29african-american doing the best that she
19:31can single mother
19:32she could not reach me she didn't have
19:34the resources and it broke her in a lot
19:37of ways
19:38and so when i came home me becoming an
19:41attorney was also to pay her back and
19:43let her know it wasn't your fault and
19:45not only was it not your fault through
19:46that experience i will now go on to make
19:48sure that no other mothers have those
19:50wrinkles and creases of anguish on their
19:52forehead like i saw you
19:54you have
19:54[Music]
19:5820 years behind bars you're you're uh
20:00released 2007.
20:03i i read some of your story that uh
20:05you were inspired by uh a cellmate who
20:08told you you got to crack down you got
20:10to go to the library you got to just
20:12don't focus on you know being in the gym
20:14all the time like you really got to
20:15crack down and and uh
20:17and because i guess your cellmate felt
20:19like this case is obviously heinous but
20:22i do want to ask you outside of the
20:23advocacy you did for yourself
20:2520 years and from what i read this is
20:28this is a very violent prison in in
20:30wisconsin
20:32how are you surviving
20:34yeah how are you survive that that's
20:35just time you can't get time back how
20:37are you surviving just the day by day
20:40you're accused of sexual assault which
20:42i've heard people who are accused of
20:43assault are treated terribly in prison
20:45how are you getting by surviving inmates
20:47guard so on yeah so what i did was this
20:50you know i um
20:52i
20:53i read a lot
20:56as a kid
20:57right
20:58so
20:59when you go in they do these tests right
21:02you know
21:03so some requirements are that you get a
21:05hsed or ged or whatever it is you know
21:08when you do these you need the uh
21:10performance test at times you know to
21:12see where you are and to see what needs
21:15you have
21:16so
21:17i tested off the meters with the reading
21:20and comprehension
21:22you know just because i read so much as
21:23a kid
21:24so that gave me the opportunity to be a
21:27ged tutor
21:29which gave me the opportunity to be in a
21:31law library which then gave me the
21:33opportunity to chart to grasp the law
21:35for my case and help others in their
21:37case
21:38so in a certain sense and manner
21:41i created my own job security
21:44by being a help to everyone i would help
21:46everyone white black green yellow it
21:48didn't [ __ ] matter to me i wanted to
21:50help i wanted to learn i wanted to help
21:52because if this thing was powerful
21:54enough to rip me from my mother's arms
21:56and having you know done done no wrong i
21:59wanted to figure this out what is this
22:00strange power right the law and so
22:03i i posted up in this law library so
22:06often and was helping so many people
22:08that people started calling me you know
22:11the little johnny crockett looking dude
22:13with the glasses on the first two right
22:15so um i would help people and people
22:18would start to gravitate towards me ask
22:20me legal questions
22:21about a number of different things and
22:23because of this
22:25um
22:26people would seek in in help from me and
22:29i and i didn't have issues the only
22:30people i had issues with were the guards
22:33and they would they would harass me
22:36they would come to my cell in the middle
22:38of the night snatch me out do cell
22:39searches put me in lock up and say that
22:42i was inciting a riot because i was i
22:44was telling inmates to stop
22:46pleading guilty to disciplinary tickets
22:48and giving away your good time and what
22:50i learned was this
22:52a lot of these men weren't doing it
22:54because they they understood it they
22:56were doing it because they didn't really
22:57understand
22:59and could comprehend
23:00what they were being accused of and how
23:03they weren't guilty of it and i started
23:04to
23:05tell them let me argue it and when i
23:07started to do it
23:09the institution noticed and they told me
23:11that i was inciting a riot and they put
23:12me in segregation for about 13 months
23:1613 months wow
23:19because you were basically telling
23:21people
23:22their legal rights
23:24that that's
23:27that's wow
23:28all right so again you are released in
23:302007 and i want to talk about your your
23:33non-profit and the kind of amazing
23:35advocacy that you've done
23:38but i am curious
23:40on a personal level
23:42after being accused of sexual assault
23:44wrongfully accused
23:47and you're released and you're a free
23:49man
23:50how does that
23:52i can only imagine what it being acute
23:54sexual assault how does
23:56how do you how are you able to function
23:58and navigate
23:59relationships
24:01intimacy
24:02all of that considering what happens to
24:04you when you're a teenager and you're
24:06now uh in your is it your late 20s at
24:09this point when you're released 27 yeah
24:11just turning two yeah so
24:14how you know because so many so many of
24:16us have been accused of sexual assault
24:18and i'm just curious how does that
24:20how does that how does that navigate
24:22just
24:23loving in intimacy when you had that
24:25taken away from you when you were a
24:26teenager
24:27you know you know i i will you know
24:30share something with you i don't mind
24:32sharing at all and
24:34my mom and my aunts
24:36they were were paying attention to me
24:39and they were were
24:41you know wondering why you know i was
24:44operating on autopilot so to speak you
24:46know i kept you know just going to
24:48school going to work going to church
24:51going to school going to work going to
24:53church
24:54and in this church
24:55um you know my mother was getting
24:58approached by a lot of like the young
25:00ladies in the church and they were they
25:02were asking her like you know who is and
25:04she was like this is my son
25:06they were assuming that i came from like
25:08the service or college or something like
25:10that they didn't know and so they kept
25:11trying to go through my mother to say
25:13introduce me to your son because my
25:15mother had been going you know found a
25:16new church home while i was going
25:18through this experience and she had been
25:20going you know to this church and
25:21everyone noticed that she was going
25:22there by herself and i just wasn't
25:24comfortable at the time and so what they
25:26did with my mom and my aunts they
25:28encouraged me to get you know therapy
25:30and i got you know the therapy that i
25:32needed that helped but i also would tell
25:34you this
25:35i also
25:36saw
25:37you know other people who had similar
25:39circumstances i'll give you an example
25:41so
25:42i looked at mike tyson
25:44his situation
25:46and i looked at how
25:47you know he dealt with you know his
25:49situation and i'm not i don't want
25:52people to look at this and say that i'm
25:53coming in and taking sides and then
25:55calling the girl who accused him of i
25:56don't know enough about that to do any
25:58of that but what i looked at was this
26:00mike tyson has always maintained his
26:02innocence
26:03and
26:04he did this prison sentence
26:07continued to maintain his innocence
26:09and he had to rebuild and repair his
26:12reputation and he too also you know
26:14would later get married to a wonderful
26:16woman i never met him or his wife but i
26:19just read the book i've seen
26:21and you look at his transition and and
26:24how he's done it
26:25um and i looked at that and i said to
26:28myself you know
26:29um
26:30growing up as a kid watching him fight
26:32watching the situation you know he went
26:35through
26:36and seeing how he was now as an older
26:38adult who had always said if he could
26:41tell his young self something you know
26:42he would he would tell his young self
26:44look it's going to hurt learning and
26:45growing hurts and that's how when i
26:47started to go through therapy and when i
26:49started to look and i started to say you
26:52know i can't be afraid of this this
26:54maturation i can't be afraid of this
26:55growth i need to go through it i would
26:57you know was in a relationship early on
27:00when i got out
27:01a young lady would be upset
27:03because she would say you know you're
27:05always looking at other women and i had
27:06to sit her down and say
27:08i'm actually
27:09not i'm looking at everyone and i'm
27:12looking at their hands because for
27:14almost 10 years whenever i came out of
27:16my cell i had to look at people's hands
27:18because people would stab and attack
27:20people
27:20so when i explained it to her she got it
27:24but it took me a while to even just open
27:26up and explain to her because i i didn't
27:28know how to diagnose myself until i
27:30started to you know go through the
27:32therapy and see the different issues and
27:33stuff and so it was it was deeply and
27:35deeply impactful um right now you know
27:38married to an amazing sister
27:40um you know wonderful wife who continues
27:43to support and you know the tentacles of
27:45the room for conviction will never be
27:46fully off of you but i think that you
27:49know we help ourselves in one another by
27:52sharing and being open about not just
27:54our strong points but our vulnerable
27:56points as well
27:59did the did the the woman who accused
28:01accused you of sexual assault i'm i know
28:04the answer to this but did she ever
28:08say she was wrong did she ever
28:11admit to any uh that she was
28:14i don't know does she ever admit to
28:15anything
28:17no she she doesn't she didn't ever admit
28:19to anything um i still you know the
28:22crazy part about all of this and people
28:24folks can go read my book for an
28:26in-depth everything because there's only
28:28you know so much we can cover on this
28:30but
28:31there were three of us there were three
28:33different outcomes based on procedural
28:35issues one of my co-defendants you know
28:38still has like a record as a result so
28:41we went and attempted to reinvestigate
28:43and we're still working on you know his
28:45case to get the governor to to grant him
28:47clemency as a result of him missing a
28:48deadline to file his habeas which which
28:51i filed for the initiatives project and
28:53it resulted in my innocence and so his
28:55as well is there but for a procedural
28:58issue his record is there so he was
29:00released like two and a half months
29:02after i was at you know he was released
29:04as well so we started to reinvestigate
29:07we're starting to reinvestigate right
29:08now we talked to the roommate and a
29:10roommate came out and was like listen
29:12i'm just so sorry you know about this
29:15had i known
29:17this would have resulted the way it
29:18resulted i would have been more
29:20forthcoming about how the police were
29:23manipulating a lot of the
29:26situation we attempted to approach you
29:28know the accuser
29:31mary
29:32not wanting you know to come forward
29:35and be involved and i'm i'm i'll tell
29:38you this here's what i'll say
29:41i'm not mad at her
29:43i'm not and here's why
29:45we're all 17 18 year old kids
29:48where were the adults
29:50being adults at
29:52where were the authorities having a
29:53conversation about a situation where
29:56um it it started from being a rumor to
29:58an allegation of rape that was never
30:00supported by anything why want why
30:02weren't the adults being adults why were
30:04they so quick to create a narrative and
30:07throw away three black kids so quickly
30:10and i look at the situation of
30:13what it's like to be bullied i wasn't
30:15the popular kid in high school so i can
30:17only imagine what it was like for her on
30:19a college campus when her roommates
30:21going around saying oh look she's
30:23dealing with black guys on my bed i
30:24moved my room because she was doing this
30:26she was doing that and so i could see
30:28how
30:29she too
30:30could be in a situation that would
30:32create a slippery slope
30:34now this is my
30:35maturation
30:37you know speaking to you this is me
30:38dealing with criminal law all day and
30:40understanding and having sympathy and
30:41empathy for both sides and there's
30:44nothing wrong with me you know having
30:46you know this feeling in this view when
30:48i look at it and when i look at the
30:49situation
30:50but to answer your question no
30:52no one stepped up is there a time maybe
30:55she will maybe that will be coming to
30:56jesus moment maybe not but the record
30:59supports and it's always supported and
31:01this simply just did not happen
31:05well you know the uh
31:06woman who got emmett till killed
31:09she allegedly decided sometime in her
31:1180s to admit that
31:13she lied
31:14it's just i i just can't imagine
31:17being that soulless i just can't imagine
31:20i
31:21i just can't imagine that
31:22uh but ah you have done phenomenal work
31:26mr adams uh you are an attorney
31:29you you fight for folks who are
31:30wrongfully convicted and i think at one
31:32point you're working with the innocence
31:33project now you said you have your own
31:35firm uh this is and and i believe you
31:38were
31:39the first exoneree
31:41uh to be hired by the innocence project
31:44uh in wisconsin is that correct
31:47yeah so yeah let me let me explain
31:49because it it's you know and i
31:50definitely want to do so everyone
31:52understands and have a background for
31:53the innocence project and the network
31:55and how it works so barry sheik and
31:57peter newfield um new york attorneys
32:00started the first innocence project in
32:03new york
32:04as a result of their their their
32:06litigating with dna and with science
32:09it started
32:11the the springing up of different
32:13innocence projects throughout the
32:15country so
32:16the original model was that
32:19the innocence project starts in a
32:21college
32:22so cardozo is where peter newfield and
32:25barry scheck started
32:26theirs so then all of these these
32:29different law schools started to create
32:31their own projects and i benefited from
32:34that because the wisconsin innocence
32:35project started their chapter and keith
32:37finley from the wisconsin innocence
32:38project was the man who took my
32:41litigated it and litigated it to the
32:43reversal so one
32:44of of law school i did a clerkship in
32:47the same seventh circuit that overturned
32:49my conviction the federal court i then
32:51went on to the to the founding innocence
32:54project in new york where i worked for
32:56almost two years there
32:58as a litigation um fellow attorney and i
33:01was the first ever attorney to be hired
33:03you know as a former exoneree to be
33:05hired as an attorney
33:07after i
33:08picked up the training much needed you
33:11know training by by some amazing
33:12attorneys in the learning of the dna and
33:14how to litigate and how to do this i
33:16opened my first firm in new york
33:18manhattan 44th street i opened that
33:21first firm up in 2017 and i now have
33:24offices in new york chicago milwaukee
33:27and i'm opening up one in la in 2022 and
33:30we have this not-for-profit going right
33:32now as well
33:34wow that's that's incredible that's
33:37incredible uh before you go i wanna
33:41i'd love for you to close on this and i
33:43know this is super complicated yeah
33:46but i
33:48i do believe that every accusation
33:51should be taken seriously absolutely but
33:53i don't believe that every accusation
33:56should be automatically believed
33:58and we are in a very interesting time
34:01uh
34:02now there are some people who are being
34:03accused of something and they're rich
34:05and famous they have tons of money and
34:07they're fine there's some folks who are
34:09being accused of something and they're
34:11they are guilty
34:13you know and they're rich and famous and
34:14they're still fine yeah but can you just
34:17can you just um
34:19speak to
34:20i don't want to make it about the me too
34:22movement but just speak to
34:24[Music]
34:26the importance of
34:28due process and
34:30maybe we have to really reconsider
34:31especially in black communities of black
34:33men
34:34folks automatically being believed and
34:36saying i just believe them
34:38because
34:39there was somebody who was automatically
34:41believed in your case
34:43and and look what happened so if you
34:44could just speak to that before we go
34:46yeah i i'll say this you know
34:49i um
34:50i um
34:51[Music]
34:53you know our society has a way of of the
34:56pendulum will swing
34:58in a dangerous direction from time to
35:01time when things happen and things take
35:02place i think that there is most
35:04certainly
35:05um the the respect for
35:08when a claim is made
35:10to investigate the veracity of that
35:12claim
35:13and i think that that is what we should
35:15do at all times and make sure that we
35:17have all the facts
35:19before we come to a decision in a
35:22conclusion
35:23and i think that what you just said is
35:25key
35:26sometimes people are just not able to
35:28afford to prove
35:30their innocence it's not that they they
35:33aren't and i think that that's why it's
35:35even more important why why why we put
35:38all of our resources on
35:40you know vetting the claims themselves
35:43we're talking about life
35:45we're not talking about a book report
35:47where something you know a grade where
35:49something can be easily fixed and i
35:51think that
35:52for
35:53the metoo movement
35:55you know and personally you know how i
35:58feel
35:59i think that
36:00women of color
36:03you know
36:04should have already have had a metoo
36:06movement and been respected for the the
36:08numerous you know claims that have been
36:10made and that no belief has been you
36:12know in them in their claims and i think
36:15that
36:16um it became a movement i think that it
36:18was a necessary movement but i think
36:20that
36:21there wasn't the appreciation for
36:25in my opinion
36:26who who was the biggest victim out of
36:28out of you know this and who was you
36:30know so hard to ever be believed but i
36:33also think to situations where
36:37you know on college campuses right now
36:39today clay
36:41colleges are so afraid of lawsuits
36:44that
36:45if a kid is accused he's almost
36:48automatically expelled from school
36:50and then they deal with it on a back end
36:52and so i think that what we need to do
36:54is this in a situation like this
36:57first of all we can cut down on a little
36:59bit of the homecoming festivities and
37:01probably have a course on what is
37:03consent
37:04you know decision making when drinking
37:06and all of that type of stuff on college
37:08campuses and teaching these as
37:10curriculums and schools i just think
37:13back to in school and and how things
37:15were approached and how this country has
37:16moved and i think that you know let's
37:19stop throwing away people right let's
37:21start to invest in the education of
37:24folks and and having these conversations
37:26with our babies early on because if we
37:28don't have a conversations with our
37:30babies in in school we're watching them
37:32on dateline
37:34and i think that that's what we need to
37:35do we just need to have a conversation
37:37about you know stop grandstanding and
37:39standing up here talking about how you
37:41lock them up and throw away and look at
37:43my record then let's start to stand up
37:45here and talk about let me tell you what
37:46we do in this office let me tell you
37:47what we do we invest we try to save we
37:50try to divert that's what we're talking
37:52about here why is it that that the value
37:55of life for some is not valued as much
37:57as others and that's really the best way
38:00that i can answer a question like that
38:01because i'm married to a black woman my
38:03mother's a black woman i have had uh of
38:06conversations with with black women in
38:08my family who who open up to me about
38:11stories of of about sexual abuse and not
38:13about not being believed so i almost
38:15certainly don't want to discredit that
38:17movement but i also
38:19want to say
38:21that there are people who are falsely
38:22accused and that it ruins lives it ruins
38:26relationships and at this point in
38:28society in which we're in
38:30it's not even about a conviction it's
38:32just about the accusation
38:34how can folks follow you and support you
38:36mr adams yeah so listen i uh i was asked
38:39you know earlier about you know me doing
38:41the cash app or or go funding listen i'm
38:44god has been been continuing to give me
38:46just enough to get by and i'm fine with
38:48that i want everyone to donate to life
38:50after justice um you donate to life
38:52after justice we're able to help men and
38:54women and increasingly women i want
38:57people to pay attention to those numbers
38:58women are being wrongfully convicted
39:00especially black women um i want you
39:03guys to look at that i know sometimes we
39:04talk a lot about the black men
39:06you know um through my experience i
39:09learned
39:10black women were the superheroes right
39:12they the real superheroes and and what
39:14they go through historically and so
39:16donate we we need you could donate money
39:19or you could donate time we need to
39:21place an emphasis on mental health care
39:24and the communities that are impacted by
39:27our criminal justice system who are
39:29usually predominantly of color so help
39:31donate twenty dollars twenty five
39:33dollars it doesn't matter it's okay
39:36to donate to something new we have the
39:37aclu's in the in the in the ej eyes of
39:41the world but this is
39:43that i am doing with a new idea with the
39:45new burst of energy i'm asking for your
39:47help and your support life at
39:49thejustice.org

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