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A former inmate who spent more than 20 years on
death row in the US after being wrongly convicted or rape and murder has shared
his incredible life story which is now being made into a Netflix drama.
Cleared Nick Yarris, 55, faced the electric chair
after being framed in 1982 for the rape and murder of a woman in his native
Pennsylvania.
He spent 8,057 days behind bars, much of it in solitary
confinement before DNA evidence finally cleared him and he was released in
2004.
The father-of-four who now lives in Yeovil, Somerset,
has written a compelling book about the twenty-three years he waited to die, a
harrowing experience that has shaped the rest of his life, despite now having
his freedom. The Fear of 13, Countdown to Execution, My Fight for Survival on Death Row’ is to not
only be made into a movie but Netflix also has plans to make a drama based on
his experiences on death row.
During his time inside, Mr Yarris was sharing his
space with serial killers, psychopaths and cannibals. Similar to the plot of
The Shawshank Redemption he took to studying and inspired loyalty from some his
fellow inmates but was attacked by others. Speaking to The Mirror he said, ‘If
you torture a man as I was tortured he will learn more about love than you
could ever imagine, and that has left me vulnerable.'
In 1981 Mr Yarris, then a 19-year-old drug addict
and alcoholic, was arrested in a stolen car when he jumped a red light. In the scuffle
with police the officer's gun went off and he was charged with attempted
murder. While in custody he read a newspaper report about the rape and murder
of a young mum and decided to make up information about it in a bid to bargain
his way out of jail.
He accused a man, who he believed to be dead, of
beating, stabbing and raping 32-year-old Linda Craig in a churchyard on the
borders of Pennsylvania. But his plan backfired when he found himself accused
of the crime and then tried and convicted on flimsy evidence and sentenced to
death in 1982. Mr Yarris spent the next 23 years fighting his conviction and
suffered brutal beatings at the hands of cellmates. He even contemplated
suicide but then decided to turn his mind to education. He devoured books and
took distance learning courses in an attempt to 'make my mind beautiful'. And although he still suffers from physical
pain Mr Yarris has said that the survivor's guilt is harder to bear.
Previously he said, 'For more than 20 years my
identity was bonded with those people on death row, I cared about them. I
believe life imprisonment is far worse than the death penalty. 'But as long as
I have love I have hope.' Despite his horrific experiences on death row, Mr
Yarris told The Mirror, ‘Prison was the best thing that happened to me. I have
a photograph of the street gang I was in when I was a teenager. There were 27
of us, 26 are dead now. ‘Death row saved my life, ‘It taught me everything is a
luxury to be treasured.’ Mr Yarris was given a reported $4million (£3million)
for his wrongful incarceration.
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