John,

My name is Herman Williams, and I’d like to share my story and how the Innocence Project helped me regain my freedom and restored my faith in truth and justice.

In 1993, my ex-wife went missing in Gurnee, Illinois. During the investigation, local police and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force focused on me as the only possible suspect, ignoring all other leads in the case.

I was innocent, but based on a fabricated confession, scientifically unsupported forensic pathology, and a trial in which the prosecution suppressed evidence and the defense was wholly inadequate — I was wrongfully convicted.

I was sentenced to life in prison without parole, forever changing the trajectory of my life and my relationship with my family and friends. But with the help of the Innocence Project and the Illinois Innocence Project, I was able to prove my innocence after nearly three decades, and I was exonerated earlier this year.

Without the Innocence Project and its community of supporters like you, I would not be here today to tell this story.

That’s why I’m asking you to chip in right now and help the Innocence Project reach their end-of-year fundraising goal, so that they can continue to free wrongly incarcerated people like myself in 2023 and beyond. Trust me when I tell you: your support matters.

I’m proud to say that I am the 22nd person to be exonerated and released through the work of the Illinois Innocence Project — a member of the Innocence Network — and the 240th through the work of the Innocence Project. Just think of all of those lives changed and families reunited, thanks to the hard work and dedication of people who care and who are willing to fight for what’s right.

John, I hope that you’ll continue to support the efforts and work of this great organization in the years to come. I’m just one of many people the Innocence Project has helped over its 30-year history, and there’s still so much more work to do to free other innocent people and change this system that’s locking us up in the first place.

But that work isn’t possible without support from people like you. So please, make a donation right now so that the Innocence Project can continue its incredibly important mission of freeing innocent people like me.

Thank you,

Herman Williams
Exonerated in 2022