Life is full of opportunities to take a negative situation or experience and turn it into a lesson you can learn from. To make stepping stones out of your stumbling blocks. To make lemonade from lemons. This is no more true than for Jarrett Adams, who after being wrongly convicted of rape, has begun practicing law in New York.
Adams was one of three men who were accused of raping a young woman on a university campus. Only 17 at the time, Adams and two other friends were invited into a college student’s room where the three of them had consensual sex with her. Sadly, she later falsely accused them of raping her. Adamsâ criminal defense attorney did a poor job of representing him during his trial. It was so bad that it rose to the level of being labeled âineffective assistance of counselâ in violation of the Constitutional right to counsel.
One of the most important items neglected by Adam’s defense attorney was a key witness who had seen the accuser woman and the three teen boys casually smoking together in the common area of the dorm. Had this witness been given a chance to testify, the outcome may have been very different for Adams and his two friends.
During his sentencing, his refusal to admit guilt was taken by the Judge as a lack of remorse. For this reason, another eight years were added onto an already 20 year sentence, and he was consigned to facilities for 25-to-lifers.
At first Adams struggled with his conviction. His cellmate, a lifer who openly admitted that he was guilty of the crime he had been convicted of, encouraged Adams to fight for his freedom. He didn’t waste time lamenting his plight. He studied the law and wrote a great deal of letters, looking for someone who would be willing to take on his case.
Hard Work and Determination Overturn Conviction and Change Man’s Career Path
Adams spent almost eight years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit, before the hard work of the Wisconsin Innocence Project finally won him his release from prison in 2007. As soon as he was released from prison, Adams enrolled in Loyola University Law School. After his graduation, he took a job as a post-conviction litigation fellow with the Innocence Project in New York.
Having spent the last year working in a dual clerkship with Judge Ann Claire Williams of the 7th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts of the Southern District of New York, Adams has passed the New York bar exam. He has gone on to start practicing law with the New York Innocence Project.
This story about Attorney Jarrett Adams is a testament to one man’s courage, tenacity and hard work in the face of incredible odds. It also brings home the tragedy that is false conviction. The heartbreaking fact is that so many people behind bars are innocent of the crimes they have been convicted for. The awful truth is about how poorly so many states compensate the wrongly convicted. Michigan is now and has always been among the states that has does not compensate those that were wrongfully imprisoned and later acquitted.
Here in Michigan however, we are hoping to change that in the near future. Recently, the Michigan Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would, if signed into law, provide financial compensation and reentry services for the wrongfully incarcerated. The bill, which has long been supported by the Michigan Innocence Clinic and the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Innocence Project, is now headed for the House, where we hope it will be widely supported.
We would like to point out, however, that one of the best ways to avoid being wrongly convicted of a crime is to ensure that your criminal defense attorney is experienced, aggressive, and 100% dedicated to your future. Here at the Kronzek Firm, our criminal defense attorneys have decades of experience and a long list of satisfied clients. If you have been accused of a crime you didn’t commit, call us immediately. This story does not have to be yours.