“Who remembers where they were on a given night five months ago?” Figgers stated.
“I never asked anybody to believe what I was saying,” James stated. “What I did was say for any and everybody to simply admit that if what I was saying was true, that I had been wrongly convicted. But the only way you can reach that conclusion is to delve into the depths of my situation. Natlie Figgers did. I owe her my life.”
Figgers, the spouse of Freddie Figgers, an inventor and founding father of Figgers Communication in Florida, the place she had been head of HR, stated releasing her feelings helped break the case, particularly when in May 2021 she approached Dorothy Wilson, the prosecution’s essential witness.
“She didn’t want to give any statements,” Figgers stated of Wilson. “She didn’t want to talk to people for years. When I went to interview her, she cracked the door open. I knew at that time she was giving me an opportunity to show her why she should do the right thing. It was such an emotional point for me, I couldn’t help but cry to her. And I told her, ‘If God tells you to give me a call when I leave, please give me a call. I’m going to answer. But I’m doing this because he is an innocent person. And I’m doing this because God put me here.’ And I left.
“Ten minutes later, she called me. I was driving. I pulled over. She asked me: ‘Why did you cry like that? Who is he to you? Are you related to him?’ I told her no. She asked, “Is he paying you?’ I said, ‘No. I’m doing this pro bono.’ She asked me how did I know it wasn’t him? I said, ‘Because I know.’ And she said, ‘I know it wasn’t him, too.’”
With that admission and the opposite proof Figgers compiled, the final step could be for James to take a polygraph take a look at, corroborating the new proof. He handed. It was the final convincing proof the CRU wanted to suggest that James be freed.
Finally, on April 27, a choose in Miami dominated that James had been wrongfully imprisoned for 32 years for murder. He was despatched dwelling.
James remembered feeling deliriously completely satisfied and relieved. He advised NBC News, “If a person doesn’t allow the worst thing that can happen to get the best of him … ” His voice trailed off.
“I’m not a better person because of what I went through,” he continued after composing himself. “I’m a different person. I get emotional talking about it; it’s overwhelming. I have emotions running wild, and I think it’s probably going to be that way the rest of my life.”
The similar, Figgers stated, goes for her. She stated she’s additionally realized that being emotionally linked to her purchasers’ circumstances may be efficient.
“This case really shaped me in a different way on how I take on cases,” she stated. “And I like the fact that I’m going to treat every case differently moving forward, making sure that I listen closely to my client, more than ever before.”
Herman Atkins, a Black man in California who was exonerated after spending 12 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit, described attorneyes like Figgers and others who tackle exoneration circumstances as “special people.” They have a selflessness and a will to search out justice that not each particular person has. It’s a disgrace they’re wanted due to the justice system in America. But if we didn’t have them, none of us who’ve been unjustly imprisoned could be freed.”
Figgers is fast to level out she was not alone in serving to James safe his freedom. Tristram Korten reported an extensive feature for GQ about James’ case in 2021. There was Reid Rubin of the State Attorney’s workplace in Miami Dade County, who was receptive to the proof Figgers submitted, and Christine Zahralban, the chief investigator of the Justice Project’s Conviction Review Unit, who labored diligently on the case, Figgers stated.
“Sometimes in this process, I doubted myself because I hadn’t done it before,” she stated. “So, I just went off my gut and prayer. When I finally heard that he was going to be released — finally, way longer than it should have been — all I could do was say, ‘Thank you, God.’ It felt so real. I knew it was meant to happen.”
James stated he lives together with his 81-year-old mom and doesn’t depart the home a lot as he tries to rebuild his life. Under the legislation, Florida supplies a minimal of $50,000 in compensation for yearly that somebody who’s wrongfully convicted is in prison, with a most of $2 million. However, a defendant is ineligible to obtain compensation if they’ve been convicted of one other violent felony, which James has.
His household launched a website, Justice for Jay, and began an on-line fundraising marketing campaign since Florida legislation prohibits him from submitting a lawsuit towards the state. He additionally launched a book, “If These Walls Could Talk, Would You Listen?” about his time behind bars as an innocent man. “It’s better to be out here than in there. But it’s tough,” James stated.
As for Figgers, she has added an factor to her agency. “Criminal law was an area of law that I avoided,” she stated. “However, this cause is too important to avoid when so many wrongfully convicted are reaching out to me for assistance. Knowing you can save a life is something truly rewarding. Nothing compares to that.”