'One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told:' Nick Yarris Discusses His Extraordinary Journey on the 'Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom' Podcast

NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 11th, the Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom podcast delves into the extraordinary story of Nick Yarris, an author, anti-death penalty activist, and professional public speaker who was wrongfully convicted of murder in Pennsylvania in 1982. With 22 years spent surviving the mind-shattering loneliness and brutality of life in prison, one dramatic (and accidental…but successful) escape from death row before turning himself back in, and his eventual exoneration and release, Yarris has lived one of the greatest stories ever told. 

In December 1981, Nick Yarris was pulled over for a traffic violation a few days after a woman named Linda Mae Craig was found beaten, raped, and stabbed to death in a church parking lot. A troubled young man with a history of substance abuse and petty crimes, Yarris got into a violent altercation with the patrolman in which the officer's service pistol was accidentally discharged, resulting in Yarris's arrest for a list of charges including attempted murder of a police officer.

In a desperate bid to obtain leniency, Yarris offered up false information connecting an acquaintance to Craig's murder. When that individual was ruled out as a suspect, the authorities focused their attention on Yarris as the prime suspect. In the following weeks, the prosecution manipulated eyewitness testimonies, relied on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, hid or destroyed the case history, and utilized misleading serology in a campaign to wrongfully convict Yarris.

After he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982, Yarris never ceased proclaiming his innocence. In 1989, he became one of Pennsylvania's first death row inmates to request DNA testing of evidence post-conviction. In 2003, Yarris was finally excluded from all biological material connected with the sexual assault and murder of Linda Mae Craig.

Although Yarris's conviction was overturned that same year, he still had a 30-year sentence on his record due to his exhilarating-yet-brief escape from death row (a scene that, as described by Yarris in the interview, played out like a Hollywood blockbuster action film) before he turned himself in upon reaching Florida. On January 15, 2004, the State of Florida reduced his sentence to time served (17 years). The next day, Yarris stepped out of a Pennsylvania prison, into freedom for the first time since he was wrongfully convicted 22 years before.

In his conversation with Flom, Yarris details the rollercoaster ride of his trial, conviction, appeals, and the torturous years he spent behind bars – most of them enduring beatings and forced fights with other prisoners in Pennsylvania's notorious Huntingdon State Prison – counting down the days until his execution. Yarris's hope, just like Flom's, is to highlight the stunning frequency with which innocent individuals are wrongfully convicted and tell the stories of those who are still battling to have justice served.

Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a podcast that explores the tragedy and triumph of unequal justice and actual innocence.  Based on the files of the lawyers who freed them the podcast features interviews with men and women who have spent decades in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom, and an upcoming slate of Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom series, are a production of Lava For Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1 and PRX.

https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/

SOURCE Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom

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