On January 4, 1983, Archie Williams, then a 22-years-old African-American was taking a walk on a silent night when he got arrested.
The police told him he's being arrested for rape, attempted first-degree murder, and burglary, because a 31-year-old woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was raped and stabbed on the morning of December 9, 1982, and investigators were told to look for someone whose description resembled him.
During prosecution, the police kept showing the woman pictures of Archie Williams to identify him. After a few times of seeing his pictures, the victim finally accepted that Archie Williams was the attacker.
But the family of Archie Williams testified that he was sleeping at home when the crime happened.
True enough, none of the fingerprints collected at the scene of the crime matched that of Archie. But they wanted someone to suffer for it.
"Being a poor black kid, I didn't have the economic ability to fight the State of Louisiana." — Archie Williams
Archie's trial lasted for 5 days where he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
He described the feeling "like life taken out of you, shaking you 'till your insides are out."
This innocent man was sent to Angola State Penitentiary — the Bloodiest Prison in the United States of America.
"You have a choice to be strong or weak because you will be tried and tested." — Archie Williams.
While in prison, for many years, music became his refuge away from the cold and lonely cell.
"When you're faced with dark times, what I will do is, I would pray and sing..." — Archie Williams.
To Archie's luck, in 1995, the Innocence Project — a non-profit organization dedicated to free wrongly convicted prisoners considered his case, and in the last few years, Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) joined them on the case.
They filed a case for DNA Testing.
The Innocence Project moved the court for a search of the FBI’s National Fingerprint Database, known as the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which could have identified who left the fingerprints at the scene of the rape.
But because of the system, days turned into weeks, then months, then years, and then decades.
The State of Louisiana fought this request for many years but in February 2019, Commissioner Kinasiyumki Kimble of the 19th Judicial District Court ordered that the unknown prints be run through the federal and state databases because according to Kimble…
“Getting to the truth was more important than erecting legal obstacles.”
So, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney agreed to the search and within hours, their search hit on a known individual: Stephen Forbes, who had committed at least 5 similar sexual assaults in the same neighborhood as the victim in Mr. Williams’ case.
Based on a joint motion by the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s office and Mr. Williams’s lawyers – Vanessa Potkin and Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project and Emily Maw of Innocence Project New Orleans, the Commissioner vacated his wrongful conviction and ordered his immediate release from custody on March 21, 2019.
The real culprit had been arrested in 1986 — for committing an attempted rape and burglary of a woman in her home in Baton Rouge — Mr. Forbes gave taped confessions to four other rapes. Two of which occurred in December 1985, one in April 1986, and one in May 1986. Mr. Forbes had documented mental illness and died in prison in 1996. He was never questioned about the rape and attempted murder which led to the imprisonment of Mr. Archie Williams
Just imagine how an innocent man who went to prison at age 22, came out at age 58 for a crime he never committed.
After such a devastating event, most people would give up... but Archie didn't!
He auditioned for America Got Talent: Season 15, where he sang…
'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me'
Sharing his story, he said…
"I watched 'America's Got Talent' in prison and I would visualize myself being there."
"I always desired to be on a stage like this, and now I'm here."
On stage, he sang with the true emotion of a man who just got his life back.
Archie's Audition and story were so powerful that, one of the judges of the show; Simon Cowell decided to join the Innocence Project as an Ambassador to help people like Archie.
"Every time I watch the audition back, I'm watching it through his eyes and how he must have felt on the day." — Simon Cowell
...because Archie's experience of being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit is more common than people realize... especially when it comes to African-Americans.
"They have guys that have been there for 50 years and over that's innocent just like me. I'm not free until they're free" – Archie Williams
After his successful performance at AGT, he appeared in the Steve Harvey Show and received support from one of the Show's Sponsors.
He has also enrolled in music classes and performed at the legendary Apollo Theatre. He was also invited to Elton John's Show who wrote his audition song.
Archie was paid $250,000 for his wrongful imprisonment, but there is no amount of money in this world that will EVER bring his life back.
Though he lost many years of his life... but he has remained a true inspiration.
"I went to prison, but I never let my mind go to prison." — Archie Williams
PS:
If you can conceive it, you can receive it.
It is never too late to start from where you are.
Be Inspired