My husband was 22 when a 14-year-old's family decided he should marry her. He refused — wanted nothing to do with her. She got angry, and then the allegations came.

He was convicted of a crime he did not commit. The direct appeal is behind us, but Texas has a post-conviction path — an 11.072 habeas writ — and we've found an attorney — a post-conviction lawyer with 20+ years of experience — who reviewed the case and told us it should never have gone to trial.

Over the past year, I've built a complete, organized case file—every page logged and cross-checked—so the attorney can move the day we can hire him. He needs $15,000 to start the investigation and $15,000 to file the case. We live on $994 a month in disability income while I'm finishing nursing school. There's no way to get there on our own.

He's serving years of supervision — registration, monitoring, classes, fees — for something he did not do, and it's breaking him mentally. He never got to tell his side. This writ is his chance to get it on the record finally.

I'm fundraising to hire the attorney. Happy to share the link in the comments or by DM for anyone who wants it — I didn't want to lead with it.

Thank you for reading. If you've loved someone through something like this, you know. Any advice for my husband or me is greatly appreciated, especially since he's struggling to hold on to his sanity and keep fighting.

On September 24, 2024, Marcellus Williams was executed for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle after the prosecuting office that convicted him petitioned the courts to vacate his conviction.

Iwao Hakamada spent decades under a wrongful conviction before being acquitted in Japan.

His case is especially interesting in the context of Japan’s extremely high conviction rate because prosecutors there are highly selective about which cases they indict.

That should theoretically eliminate many weak cases before trial.

The question is what happens when the original theory of guilt is wrong but investigators and prosecutors have already committed to it.

This video examines Hakamada alongside confession, detention, interrogation, the Shibushi case and the institutional structure surrounding wrongful convictions in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8OqZSsyxwE

For people who study wrongful convictions, I’d be interested in which stage of the process you think creates the greatest risk of an error becoming difficult to reverse.

Jennifer Waters is serving 15 years for crimes she didn't commit. Her co-defendant—a man with documented dishonesty and Alzheimer's—testified against her just days after cutting a deal: he'd serve 6 months while she got 15 years. That's not justice. That's a system broken.

I started a petition because Jennifer's case isn't unique. Coercive plea deals that reward witnesses for testimony create a perverse incentive: lie, and walk free. The prosecution pressured Jennifer for four years to fabricate statements against her co-defendant. She refused. She kept her integrity. She lost her freedom. Now her young children are without their mother.

This is about more than one person. Perjured testimony from incentivized witnesses has played a role in 18% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. Meanwhile, innocent people sit in cells across the country because our system prioritizes closed cases over actual truth. What would you want someone to do if this was your family? If this matters to you, would you consider signing and sharing? Jennifer needs people to care enough to speak up.

Cameron was a sole survivor of a deadly crash that took 5 lives too soon. Sacramento county courts want to give him excessive jail time for surviving.

My brother spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. When he was finally exonerated, I thought the nightmare was over. But the state told him: accept compensation OR pursue justice against those responsible. Not both.

That's the trap exonerees face in Indiana right now. After decades behind bars with nothing—no savings, no career, no support—they're forced to pick between immediate financial help or holding people accountable for the injustice that destroyed their lives. It shouldn't be an impossible choice.

I started a petition to pass the Right to Rebuild Act. It's simple: let exonerees get state compensation to rebuild while keeping their right to sue if misconduct caused their conviction. These are two different kinds of justice. Why should someone have to give up one to get the other? The state can even recoup its compensation if they later win a civil case—everyone's protected.

What would you want if this was your family? If this matters to you too, please consider signing and sharing.

The new book is Three Times A Victim. I will need to increase exposure for the story.