John —

At the end of this email, I’m going to ask you to donate to the Innocence Project in honor of Father’s Day, but first, I want to tell you my story.

In 2002, I was sitting in court when I got the worst news I’ve ever heard in my life: I had been convicted of a crime I did not commit and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.

I was a father to one wonderful son when the wrongful conviction came down, and knowing that I wouldn’t have the chance to be in his life every day was completely soul crushing.

Needless to say, I was in shock. Less than a year earlier, 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.

But the best news I’ve ever heard in my life came on Dec. 16, 2020. My Innocence Project lawyer Vanessa Potkin called me to tell me that, after 19 years of wrongful incarceration, my conviction was vacated and I was finally exonerated.

Being wrongfully convicted is excruciatingly painful in ways I can’t even explain. I was forced to miss watching my son grow up into the man that he's become, all for a crime I didn’t commit — that’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

It’s because of the Innocence Project that I am able to finally be with my son again and even hold my grandson, who was born while I was incarcerated. In fact, when I went to prison, my son was the same age as my grandson was when I walked out.

Every day, the Innocence Project works to reunite families like mine. There are still so many innocent fathers in prison, desperate to get out and hug their kids again. That’s why on this Father’s Day, I’m asking you to please make a donation to the Innocence Project to help free innocent fathers and bring families back together.

Thank you so much, and I hope everyone has a very happy Father’s Day.

Termaine Hicks
Exonerated in 2020