Thursday, April 17, 2008

What innocent men look like

Maggie says:
Once again, I'm connecting newsreels with faces. When I think of girls forced into marriage, I can now picture Najoud. And when I hear of wrongly convicted prisoners finally exonerated through DNA evidence, I can now picture Thomas McGowan, along with James C. Giles, James Waller, and Charles Chatman. These three other men were also wrongfully convicted in Dallas County and have all been exonerated within the last two years. They came out to the courtroom yesterday to greet McGowan as free men.

From left to right: James C. Giles, Thomas McGowan, James Waller, Charles Catman

Thank goodness for the Innocence Project of Texas, who is behind so many of these exonerations. Their work is beyond incredible. Kudos to Unfair Park for keeping the story in the news. Unfair Park's photo essay - of McGowan's first meal as a free man in 23 years (chicken-fried steak!), of fellow free man James Giles giving McGowan a $100 bill to get started on the right foot, and of McGowan with his attorney, made me tear up over here.

How do we ever repay these men?