John —

In 2001, I was walking home in my Philadelphia neighborhood and heard a woman screaming for help. I went over to where she was and saw that she had been attacked and was badly injured.

I was reaching for my phone to call 911 when the police arrived, responding to neighbors’ earlier calls. The arriving officers immediately shot me three times in the back. After they realized I was unarmed and didn’t match the description of the attacker, the police embarked on a massive cover-up of their mistake. At my trial, officers lied under oath, and I was wrongly convicted of attacking the woman I had tried to help.

I survived being shot by the police that night, and then spent 19 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. The only way I made it through all that time was by maintaining strong connections with my family and loved ones who never gave up fighting for me. Because when you’re incarcerated, it doesn’t just impact you — it affects every single person who cares about you.

That’s why I was so grateful to the Innocence Project and my lawyer, Vanessa Potkin, when I was finally exonerated last year. It’s because of them that I was able to be reunited with my family and to begin rebuilding my life.

John, I had so many years and experiences stolen from me. I missed out on watching my son grow up into the man he is now — today, because of the Innocence Project’s work, I’m able to be there for my grandson.

But there are still so many people who are trapped in prison, missing their friends and family, and afraid that they’ll never get out. I think about them constantly. 

The Innocence Project works every day to help wrongly incarcerated people just like me, and without support from this community, their life-saving work would not be possible. So today, I’m asking you to help them meet their $55,000 end-of-year fundraising goal by making a donation right now. Donations are being matched dollar-for-dollar in this important fundraising effort, so your donation will go even further.

Thank you for everything,

Termaine Hicks
Exonerated in 2020