In 1986, I went to trial for the first time. I was facing the death penalty.
Initially, I had a hung jury. The second time around, in 1988, they found me guilty, but sentenced me to life in prison without parole.
My first night in prison was bad. I felt like just giving up. After the trial, a couple of newspaper articles were written about me and some of the guys who had been keeping track of my case saved them for me. I didn't want to look at them; the man in those pictures looked so dejected. During the 1990s Maurice asked for DNA which had been found on the victim to be tested, but was told that all evidence in his case was destroyed.During the early 1990s, I went through the appeal process, which failed. Around the same time, forensic analysis was becoming increasingly used to solve criminal cases, and so I began writing letters asking for DNA that had been found on the victim to be tested. I was told that all evidence in my case was destroyed.
As you get older in prison you see younger guys coming in and feel you have to set an example. I always acted as a mentor and told them to be hopeful, even when they felt as though they were destined for a life in prison. As the result of work carried out by these organizations, and the California Forensic Science Institute, the district attorney's office found that this DNA evidence had, in fact, not been destroyed, and last year were able to send them to an independent laboratory for testing. They found the DNA profile of a male contributor who was clearly not me.
When you've spent almost 40 years living in one place where someone decides what you eat, where you go, what you do and when you do it, it's hard to process being away from that. Everything out here seems a little bit broader, and it's hard to jump into it all of a sudden. You have to readjust all over again.
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