Chichester, Pennsylvania, 1981:
Linda May Craig was reported missing by her husband after she failed to return home following her shift at the Tri-State mall. The following day, December 16, 1981, Mrs. Craig's body was found -- beaten, stabbed and raped -- approximately a mile and a half from her car. Police determined that she had bled to death from multiple stab wounds in her chest. Biological material evidence, including sperm samples and fingernail scrapings, was collected from the body. This evidence would prove to be of the utmost importance in the years to come.
Four days after Mrs. Craig's body was discovered, Nicholas Yarris was stopped by police due to a traffic violation. This routine traffic stop ended in a violent confrontation between Mr. Yarris and the officer, ultimately ending in his arrest for the attempted murder of a police officer. This was the first time the United States Judicial System failed him.
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In a last ditch effort to gain his freedom which backfired miserably, Nicholas Yarris found himself to be the prime suspect of the murder investigation. On July 1, 1982, Mr. Yarris was found guilty and convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of Linda May Craig.
He was sentenced to death.
At the time of Mr. Yarris' arrest, conventional serological testing was performed on the rape kit of Mrs. Craig, the results of which were rendered inconclusive and could not exclude Mr. Yarris.
Still, he insisted and proclaimed his innocence, fueling the fire of a long struggle and full-out war for accurate and fair DNA testing of the crime scene evidence. In 1989, evidence was again tested, this time with newly found DNA technology, but unfortunately, all failed to produce conclusive results.
At this point, Mr. Yarris had had enough. He had lost everything: his freedom, his wife, and most significantly, his hope.
Mr. Yarris, a man who had fought so diligently for a fair trial, for DNA testing and for his life, sat down after battling Hepatitis C and drafted a letter to the judge assigned to sit on his case, requesting his right to execution as a condemned man be carried out within 60 days of receipt of his letter.
The judge ordered all evidence to be retested for DNA evidence.
Dr. Edward Blake, noted for his involvement in the O.J Simpson trial, conducted a final round of DNA testing on gloves found in Mrs. Craig's car, fingernail scrapings from Mrs. Craig and the remaining spermatozoa obtained from her underpants. Significantly, the profiles obtained from the gloves and the spermatozoa evidence appeared to originate from the same person, but not from Nicholas Yarris (innocenceproject.org)
Nicholas Yarris was exonerated on September 3, 2003. He served 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
What happened to Mr. Yarris is unacceptable. Watching his documentary, "The Fear of 13" on Netflix, I am outraged and deeply saddened that this man was put through such horrible conditions and unfair situations. He deserves to be compensated for his suffering. He deserves recognition for the inspiration he is, and most of all, he deserves his life.
Mr. Yarris tells his story and refuses his audience any secrets as to what he went through. He is painfully honest and incredibly strong. Most incredibly, throughout the entire documentary, Mr. Yarris never once blames anyone for what he was subjected to. He doesn't place fault and shows no resentment. Instead, he teaches his audience the importance of hope, the importance of life and the importance of love.
Capital punishment is often overlooked as what it is: an act of revenge. It doesn't teach convicted felons anything; instead it gives them a way out after years of sitting on death row in solitary confinement. The Innocence Project works to exonerate inmates like Mr. Yarris, wrongfully convicted and awaiting their death. Go to www.innocenceproject.org for more information.
"I started to find out one true thing about myself: you can only grow so far, as a man, until a woman teaches you enough about yourself that you can further develop. And it's only through the eyes of that person that you can give yourself openly to, that they teach you so many things about yourself that are qualities that you rely upon and like and respect because you've been shown from afar, something no mirror could show you." -- Nicholas Yarris, "The Fear of 13."
