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Nick Yarris - Exonerated Death Row Inmate - 22 Years Solitary Confinement - Author - Speak — Transcript

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0:04[Music]
0:29the 20
0:30hour radio
0:33show so Nick I guess the most obvious
0:36place to start is with the murder you
0:38were charged with can you give us a
0:40little detail on the actual crime and
0:42how you initially were connected to the
0:44case yes
0:46sir and the murder in question began on
0:50December 15 1981 when Linda May Craig
0:54was leaving her workplace in the
0:55Tri-State Mall she left work at 4:00 and
0:59her watch was found broken on her wrist
1:01at 4:05 p.m. she was abducted in the car
1:05parking lot because her shoes were
1:07recovered there and she was driven into
1:10Pennsylvania from the state of Delaware
1:11two miles near her home where she was
1:13raped and stabbed to death and dumped in
1:15a car parking lot of a church her car
1:18was then driven two miles further left
1:21with the interior lights on and all the
1:23doors lock Ker's gloves left as a
1:26signature for the police on the front
1:27seat I had nothing to do with this crime
1:30but it was in the front page of a
1:32newspaper that had accompanied me when I
1:35landed in the Delaware County Prison I
1:38landed there because on December 20th
1:411981 I was driving through the city of
1:43Chester Pennsylvania when I was stopped
1:45by patrolman Benjamin Wright I was high
1:48on drugs and I had just run a stop sign
1:51he walked up to my car and started
1:53banging on the window the radio was
1:54still playing and I couldn't understand
1:56them because I suffer from a brain
1:57disorder called clasia and happened
2:00because of a childhood injury where I
2:02was attacked by a young man when I was
2:03seven years old who beat my head and
2:05went have Rob and because of my drug use
2:09I used the worst drug possible
2:12methamphetamine and it blew my mind out
2:14so when something like this happened and
2:15AER right walked up I just couldn't
2:17respond to him he yanked me from the car
2:20put me against it put his forearms in my
2:22throat and pushed backwards and I
2:24resisted when I did he got angry and he
2:26reached for his gun when he did I
2:28grabbed his wrist and the gun went off
2:30into the ground I started yelling okay
2:33and he put me in the back seat of the
2:34car and and it was over but then he got
2:36in the front seat composed himself for a
2:38moment and then he got on the phone and
2:40started yelling shots fired officer
2:42assist help help I'm under attack as if
2:44he was still being under attacked by me
2:47and I couldn't understand why he did so
2:49in short order I was thrown into that
2:51cell with that newspaper in the Delaware
2:53County Prison and charged with attempted
2:55murder of a police officer and I lost it
2:58it was 4 days before Christmas I was 2
3:00years old and I'd had no hope of beating
3:03the charges of attempting murder against
3:05a police officer when I was a drug
3:06addict loser I sat there for days steing
3:11about my situation and I stupidly did
3:13the most horrific thing of my life I
3:16made up a story that I would make to
3:17tell the police about that murder that
3:19seemed like a great mystery that no one
3:21would understand and so I went forward
3:23and told the police a story they soon
3:26found out I was a liar but then they put
3:28me back in prison and they put a
3:30prisoner in the cell next to me who had
3:31burglarized the prosecutor home and it
3:34was he who said I confessed to him of
3:35this murder they charged me with this
3:38crime that I nothing to do it so being
3:41innocent of this crime I mean was that
3:43the only evidence they had against you I
3:44mean they they somehow manufactur this
3:46evidence right yeah that's the scary
3:49part once they determined that I was a
3:51liar they then said you must do either
3:54one and then they made up a motive they
3:56said that I went out and stalked Mrs
3:58Craig because she bore a to my
4:0020-year-old girlfriend i' broken up with
4:02and that I must have been mentally
4:04desponded by it and went out and stalked
4:06her out of some mental fit and they made
4:09me out to be some kind of mental deric
4:11and they tortured me they told the local
4:14prison gang the pagans that I was a
4:17informant hoping that I would have so
4:19much pressure put upon me by doing so
4:21that I would come forward with the truth
4:23to the police only to have me assaulted
4:25nearly killed and hang myself when that
4:28went badly it didn't mve me out of the
4:30county gentle and put me in Chester
4:31County Prison while I went through the
4:32first trial I was acquitted by a jury of
4:36all the charges by offer benchman right
4:39my original charges were taken off me
4:41after only 20 minutes of deliberation
4:44but that only made things worse for me
4:45Randy they then decided to seek the
4:48death penalty against me the very next
4:50week by the very same prosecutor and the
4:52very same judge that just lost the first
4:54trial and from that point on I was given
4:57a three-day capital murder trial
5:00at the age of 20 years old it was a joke
5:03they made so much Folly of me and the
5:05Pressed that they questioned why I
5:06should be even given a fair trial when
5:08some nut just like me shot the president
5:11so it was a very terrible time in the
5:13early 80s to go to trial for a crime
5:15like
5:16this so for us that have no idea except
5:19for the you know the terminology what is
5:22death row I mean what's it like I mean
5:24how did you stay sane through all this
5:26this period in in your life yeah I
5:28landed it in the old system I was
5:30sentenced to the electric chair it was
5:32so long ago and I was 20 years old they
5:34put me in hell in Huntington prison and
5:37at the time it was the only prison in
5:39America ever condemned by the United
5:41Nations for its active practices of
5:43torture they had just removed a unit
5:46that they were using in there where they
5:48kept the lights on 24 hours and made you
5:50stay awake for days until they broke you
5:52mentally to stop you from talking that's
5:55it just talking in yourself when I got
5:58off the bus they beat me for 30 seconds
6:00threw me in the cell and then the worst
6:02experience of my life took place from a
6:04female a nurse walked up to my cell and
6:07then correctly read out I wrote how I
6:11should use the system to file a a
6:14request lip to see a doctor if I should
6:16need one and when I failed to respond to
6:19the things she was saying to me an
6:21officer stood next to her just
6:22repeatedly saying inmate refuses to
6:25speak knowing that I wasn't going to say
6:28a word to what they had just done to I
6:29stood there my face bleeding they didn't
6:32care now you actually begged for death
6:34at one point right yeah I went through
6:37the arduous task well before that I mean
6:40my Folly began when I escaped from Death
6:43Row in 1985 and was on the FBI's most
6:46wanted this for 25 days until I had my
6:48father call FBI and turn myself in and I
6:52I did that knowing that I would suffer a
6:54great bit deal more and they put me in
6:57Florida's death row next to Ted Bund and
6:59cooked me down there for a summer until
7:01they added 30 some years to my sentence
7:03and sent me back to Pennsylvania so yes
7:06I became the first guy on death row in
7:081988 to asked for DNA testing to prove
7:11my Innocent but it took me 15 long
7:14agonizing years and part of it was they
7:17destroyed all the autopsy material and
7:19the effort to try and seal my fate and
7:22they pushed me to the extreme of being
7:24so sick from hepatitis C that I asked to
7:26be executed I didn't want to lose the
7:29person that I had developed into and
7:31worked so hard for because I don't know
7:34how to tell you guys this but like I
7:36didn't try to educate myself and grow so
7:39I could be some badass when I got out of
7:41jail I just wanted on my last day to be
7:44able to quote something so beautiful
7:47that they would recognize that I had a
7:49erased the scum by teasing liar that I
7:52was and became someone decent and loving
7:55towards others while incarcerated that I
7:57could show that I had beaten them erase
8:00to erasee me from this Earth in a way
8:02that they could never touch and to do so
8:05to make my parents proud because my mom
8:07and dad were with me at dinner that
8:09things that they did to my family were
8:11so terrible because I had Witnesses with
8:13me at the time of the
8:16murder so so tell me about these these
8:18Gladiator games you were forced to
8:20participate in yeah it's a shame but it
8:24in a weird way it was used by the guards
8:26to keep them from killing each other in
8:28the early ' 80s so many prisoners got
8:30Camp uh crammed into our prison systems
8:33that we ended up having a lot of black
8:35officers from the major cities move up
8:37into the mountain area to deal with all
8:39these extra shifts of guards that were
8:41needed and they were witnessing
8:44brutality being aimed at black prisoners
8:46and it was really disturbing that
8:48officers would fight amongst themselves
8:50so this clever ass Captain came up with
8:53an idea pick out a black prisoner pick
8:56out a white one Let them fight and the
8:58guards who would use that as a vicarious
9:01uh way of um taking out their anger and
9:05frustration on themselves without
9:08officers being involved so it was a
9:11weird scenario where I watched as men
9:13had to fight each other merely for the
9:16amusement of the officers who then felt
9:18relieved from this anguish amongst
9:21themselves so Nick Nick H how did your
9:23case get brought up for review in the
9:25first place I mean that that's really
9:26not normal right for inmates on death
9:28row well see I I went through the
9:31extreme of fighting and fighting and
9:33fighting because I was the first death
9:34row prisoner I kept having to go between
9:37the state and federal court and it's a
9:40shame that I went on in such a prolonged
9:43fashion because the state court was
9:46adamant about denying the DNA efforts
9:48and they kept it in the state court as
9:50long as they possibly could and did all
9:52they could to hope that I would die by
9:54my own hand or someone else in the
9:56meanwhile and we look back now could
9:59have been executed I came within in
10:01closest 60 days and yet here it is DNA
10:04has proven three different results that
10:06I'm not the killer I didn't leave my
10:08seene in there it wasn't my skin fill
10:11under her fingernails and it wasn't my
10:14DNA inside the Killer's gloves left in
10:16that car like I
10:17described well how did you react to the
10:19news that you had been cleared of murder
10:21and you know you were set to be released
10:23it was awkward because I was told of the
10:25results in July of 2003 and it was my
10:30lawyer from Philadelphia from the
10:31federal defenders office who had
10:33represented me for seven years and he
10:34told me uh the results of the testing by
10:38Dr Edward Blake in California and then
10:41he started to tell me when I pointed out
10:44to him how it point it provve me
10:45innocent he then described to me how
10:48everyone in the office seems a little
10:50shamefaced this morning because they all
10:51thought I was crazy and they didn't
10:53actually believe I was innocent and it
10:56was like one of those awkward moments
10:58like he's trying to reveal in a
11:00self-depreciating manner how he has been
11:02wrong about me but I didn't have time
11:04for that so I hung up the phone from him
11:06and I called my mother and told her and
11:08she started to cry because my brother
11:09was having the seizure at her feet at
11:11the time so it was so not what I
11:15expected I thought there would be a
11:16celebration in fact it went the other
11:18way it took them eight months to let me
11:20go they took me off death row and they
11:22put me in a mental cell and they told me
11:24if we open the door you're going to kill
11:26one of us for what we did to you I said
11:27no I'm not not going to my time with you
11:31so how how how was it you just like the
11:33day you were set free they just open the
11:35door and they say you know see you later
11:37you would think that you would think
11:38that but they botched my release at 8 AM
11:41they told me goodbye they packed all my
11:43stuff they put me in a van in January
11:4516th at 7:30 a.m. they drove me up to
11:48the FR gate I say goodbye to the
11:50officers we were talking about the first
11:52things I was going to eat and they
11:53stopped me at the second gate and they
11:55said take him back his skate paperwork
11:58from Florida is not done yet and my
12:00lawyers had to fly from Fort ladale to T
12:03House of Florida to get me released that
12:05day for five hours I sat in a Cell
12:07waiting in anguish if they did it right
12:09that day and so it was so weird that I
12:14ended up walking outside and instead of
12:16saying a word about what they had just
12:18done I asked that they please come back
12:21and revisit my friend Walter ogrod and
12:24Ernie Simmons who were on death row
12:26behind me and how they two were innocent
12:28like me and I off well how did you point
12:31at that point wow how how did you adapt
12:33to life you know outside of prison man
12:35after all those years of solitary
12:37confinement right what was it that must
12:39have been like a a prison in itself
12:41especially in the beginning it was a
12:43freedom into itself because I had my own
12:45schedule I've read thousands and
12:47thousands of book I communicated with
12:48people all over the world I
12:50circumnavigated the the planet with
12:52sending my hair to pen pales all over
12:54the world I grew and I had this
12:57wonderful experience inside that cell
13:00because I was in solitary compartment 23
13:02hours a day it was my world and I grew
13:05from age 20 to age 42 in there and I
13:09became this really different person and
13:12I became proud of who I was so when they
13:15let me out I just wanted to share that I
13:17wasn't seeing it the way you did I was
13:20only separated from society by the
13:23barriers that were created in my mind
13:25and I realized that and let them go and
13:28I moved to Eng I lived there for the
13:30last n years I've now come back to the
13:32United States to develop my film I just
13:34got married on January 16th
13:372014 uh I'm so happy that I've turned
13:40towards the positive and actually went
13:41and lived my life before telling this
13:43story now so people actually can see
13:47that I'm not selling them the hope of
13:49what I might have but with the life I've
13:51done in the last 10 years of my living
13:54you know was there ever any contact
13:56between you and and the family of the
13:58victim after your after name had been
13:59cleared yeah there was back and forth
14:02but shamefully because the prosecutor
14:04wanted to make out that even though DNA
14:07evidence came back and it's not mine I'm
14:09still somehow connected to the crime so
14:11that family has hated me for so long
14:13that they can't let go of that and it's
14:16one of those weird things that even
14:18members of my family couldn't let go of
14:20the anger towards me because they
14:21weren't there at dinner or they didn't
14:23know the the events of the night and
14:25they didn't care because I used to be a
14:27junkie and the thief mhm see this is
14:29where we go back to I'm not a victim of
14:32an overall scheme I put myself in the
14:34center of the storm by my own stupid
14:36acts it was only down to me to pay for
14:40it in efforts I've made since then and
14:42part of it was when I was released I
14:44even fought for the victim by going out
14:46every Monday to the courthouse and
14:48protesting until they put the DNA into
14:50the FBI's Data Bank to try and catch the
14:52man who killed her I felt that that was
14:54important that I finalized that
14:57continued effort to try and change Ang
14:59who I was for what I did n the one has
15:02to live with that what was done to me
15:04the cruelty and the times that I had
15:05been hurt others have to live with that
15:08so what has your life been like since
15:10you've been released uh what have you
15:12done to try to make up for all those
15:14years yeah it's it's been a rocket ride
15:16through every human emotion I'm no
15:19different than you and Bob I mean you
15:22guys you guys go through the same things
15:24as I do the frustrations the immediacy
15:26of emotion all these things are back in
15:29my life now and I have to deal with them
15:31paying bills and struggling and worrying
15:33if my wife and I will make it in the
15:34United States and going through the
15:36processes that we are we're struggling
15:39for having a child we're facing
15:40difficulties we get frustrated just like
15:43everyone else but we have to
15:44understanding that things have been
15:46truly worse for us so we can hang on
15:48knowing that this isn't the worst of it
15:50we're all right I think that's what I
15:53want to share more than anything that
15:55through the perseverance of actually
15:57caring about other human beings you can
15:59overcome the things that have done to
16:00you it's just that you can't give up on
16:02love now I know you got a book out right
16:05and I I think even a documentary is
16:07being released in January yes sir I have
16:09a book out called seven days to live
16:11people can find me on my website Nick
16:13j.net or find it on Amazon Kindle and
16:17I'm very grateful to the actor Mike
16:18Farrell who's written a great blurb
16:20about it I just got a four out of four
16:22star review about the book I'm very
16:24happy for the opportunity to promote it
16:26with the documentary that's coming out
16:28in January as well
16:29so it looks like not being an arrogant
16:32[ __ ] for what they did to me has paid
16:35off and I'm glad I'm glad that I didn't
16:37become bitter and I'm glad that I didn't
16:39use what they did to me as a crutch
16:41because it's just too easy and I'm just
16:44so happy that it's rewarded me now with
16:46someone like you taking the time to let
16:48me speak today you know is there
16:50anything else we haven't covered you'd
16:51like to mention before we start to wrap
16:52things up here oh yeah every Don every
16:56copy of my book sold I will make a
16:58donation to the Innocence Project to
17:00help them because 86 people were proven
17:04innocent last year and another 63 this
17:06year so go far even people on death row
17:09proven innocent by DNA this year alone
17:12and I think as long as I can contribute
17:15that's my goal to help others never have
17:17to ask to be executed in the manner that
17:18I did now you mentioned your website but
17:21do you do do you do social media or
17:23anything like that people can go and
17:25keep up with you find me yeah my Nick my
17:27name is Nick y R RIS and you can find me
17:30on Facebook I have a professional page
17:33and a personal one and I like the
17:35opportunity that I get to share a lot of
17:37my life in that manner I really am
17:39grateful for the opportunity I have with
17:41CNN and other major uh national
17:43television networks I'm going to do in
17:45the future too so I if I ever come back
17:48and get a chance to do this again I
17:50definitely will you guys have been so
17:51grateful uh gracious towards me and I
17:54can't help but be grateful well Nick
17:56it's been a pleasure talking to you here
17:58in your story it is is an amazing story
18:00uh I'm glad things worked out for you
18:02your name has been cleared to that
18:03terrible crime and and uh thanks for
18:05joining us this afternoon on the show
18:08thank you guys I really appreciate it
18:10I'm so happy for you guys go and enjoy
18:11the rest of your day
18:18[Music]
18:37the 25th hour radio
18:43show I mean how did you stay sane
18:45through all this this period in in your
18:47life yeah I landed it in the old system
18:50I was sentenced to the electric chair it
18:52was so long ago and I was 20 years old
18:54they put me in hell in Huntington prison
18:57and at the time it was the only prison
18:59in America ever condemned by the United
19:01Nations for its active practices of
19:03torture they had just removed a unit
19:06that they were using in there where they
19:08kept the lights on 24 hours and made you
19:10stay awake for days until they broke you
19:12mentally to stop you from talking that's
19:15it just talking in your cell when I got
19:18off the bus they beat me for 30 seconds
19:21threw me in the cell and then the worst
19:22experience of my life took place from a
19:24female a nurse walked up to my cell and
19:28then correct
19:29read out by wrote how I should use the
19:32system to file a a request slip to see a
19:35doctor if I should need one and when I
19:38failed to respond to the things she was
19:40saying to me an officer stood next to
19:42her just repeatedly saying inmate
19:44refuses to speak knowing that I wasn't
19:47going to say a word to what they had
19:49just done to me while I stood there my
19:50face bleeding they didn't care now you
19:54actually begged for death at one point
19:56right yeah I went through an arduous t
19:58ask well before that I mean my Folly
20:02began when I escaped from Death Row in
20:031985 and was I must have been mentally
20:06desponded by it and went out and stalked
20:08her out of some mental fit and they made
20:11me out to be some kind of mental deric
20:13and they tortured me they told the local
20:16prison gang the pagans that I was a
20:19informant hoping that I would have so
20:21much pressure put upon me by doing so
20:23that I would come forward with the truth
20:25to the police only to have me assaulted
20:27nearly killed and hang like myself when
20:29that went badly it didn't moved me out
20:31of the county gy and put me in Chester
20:33County Prison while I went through the
20:35first trial I was acquitted by a jury of
20:38all the charges by Officer benchman wri
20:41my original charges were taken off me
20:43after only 20 minutes of deliberation
20:46but that only made things worse for me
20:48Randy they then decided to seek the
20:50death penalty against me the very next
20:52week by the very same prosecutor and the
20:54very same judge that just lost the first
20:56trial and from that point on I was given
20:59a three-day capital murder trial at the
21:02age of 20 years old it was a joke they
21:05made so much Folly of me in the press
21:07that they questioned why I should be
21:09even given a fair trial when some nut
21:11just like me shot the president so it
21:14was a very terrible time in the early
21:1680s to go to trial for a crime like
21:18this so for us that have no idea except
21:21for the you know the terminology what is
21:24death row I mean what's it like officer
21:26assist help help I'm under attack is if
21:28he was still being under attacked by me
21:31and I couldn't understand why he did so
21:33in short order I was thrown into that
21:35cell with that newspaper in the Delaware
21:37County Prison and charged with attempted
21:39murder of a police officer and I lost it
21:42it was four days before Christmas I was
21:4422 years old and I'd had no hope of
21:47beating the charges of attempting murder
21:49against a police officer when I was a
21:50drug addict loser I sat there for days
21:54steing about my situation and I stupidly
21:57did the most iic thing of my life I made
22:00up a story that I would make to tell the
22:02police about that murder that seemed
22:04like a great mystery that no one would
22:06understand and so I went forward and
22:08told the police a story they soon found
22:10out I was a liar but then they put me
22:13back in prison and they put a prisoner
22:14in the cell next to me who had
22:16burglarized the prosecutor home and it
22:18was he who said I confessed to him of
22:20this murder they charged me with this
22:22crime that I nothing to do it so being
22:25innocent of this crime I mean was that
22:27the only evidence they had against you I
22:29mean they they somehow manufactured this
22:31evidence right yeah that's the scary
22:33part once they determined that I was a
22:35liar they then said you must do either
22:38one and then they made up a motive they
22:40said that I went out and stalked Mrs
22:42Craig because she bore a likeness to my
22:4420-year-old girlfriend I'd broken up
22:46with and then I left with the interior
22:48lights on and all the doors locked Ker's
22:51gloves left as a signature for the
22:53police on the front seat I had nothing
22:55to do with this crime but it was in the
22:57front page of a newspaper that had
23:00accompanied me when I landed in the
23:02Delaware County Prison I landed there
23:05because on December 20th 1981 I was
23:08driving through the city of Chester
23:10Pennsylvania when I was stopped by
23:12patrolman Benjamin Wright I was high on
23:15drugs and I had just run a stop sign he
23:18walked up to my car and started banging
23:19on the window the radio was still
23:21playing and I couldn't understand him
23:22because I suffer from a brain disorder
23:24called clasia and it happened because of
23:27a childhood injury where I was attacked
23:29by a young man when I was seven years
23:30old who beat my head and would have Rob
23:32and because of my drug use I used the
23:36worst drug possible methamphetamine and
23:39it blew my mind out so when something
23:41like this happened and AER right walked
23:43up I just couldn't respond to him he
23:45yanked me from the car put me against it
23:47put his forearms in my throat and pushed
23:49backwards and I resisted when I did he
23:52got angry and he reached for his gun
23:53when he did I grabbed his wrist and the
23:56gun went off into the ground I started
23:58yelling okay and he put me in the back
24:00seat of the car and and it was over but
24:02then he got in the front seat composed
24:04himself for a moment and then he got on
24:06the phone and started yelling shots fir
24:12[Music]
24:37the 25th hour radio
24:41show so Nick I guess the most obvious
24:44place to start is with the murder you
24:46were charged with can you give us a
24:48little detail on the actual crime and
24:50how you initially were connected to the
24:52case yes
24:54sir and the murder in question began and
24:58on December 15th 1981 when Linda MRE was
25:02leaving her workplace in the Tri-State
25:04Mall she left work at 4:00 and her watch
25:08was found broken on her wrist at 4:05
25:11p.m. she was abducted in the car parking
25:14lot because her shoes were recovered
25:16there and she was driven into
25:18Pennsylvania from the state of Delaware
25:20two miles near her home where she was
25:21raped and stabbed to death and dumped in
25:23a car parking lot of a church her car
25:27was then driven 2 miles further

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