In this episode, “Exonerated” host Clay Cane recently spoke with Obie Anthony about the wrongful conviction that sent Anthony to prison as a teenager and the lasting impact nearly two decades behind bars has had on his life.
Anthony was 19 when he was accused of a 1994 murder in Los Angeles, despite what he described as a lack of physical evidence connecting him to the crime.
“The first words out of my mouth is that you got the wrong guy,” Anthony told Cane. “I was totally surprised, shocked.”
According to Anthony, there were “no fingerprints, no shoe prints” and no reliable identification placing him at the scene, but he was ultimately sentenced to life without parole.
“I had to pretend as though this is not new to me,” he said, recalling arriving at Corcoran State Prison at 19. “It was people there for 23 years already.” Anthony said reading and conversations with other incarcerated men helped him endure the years that followed.
“You learn a lot of wisdom,” he explained. “You have individuals that help you keep a hold of your hope.”
His case began moving toward exoneration after attorneys reinvestigating his co-defendant Reggie Cole’s case discovered information Anthony said had been withheld from the defense. Anthony was exonerated in September 2011 and released Oct. 4.
“I’m stuck in the fight mode,” Anthony continued. “It took 17 years of my life. I fought for my freedom. That’s all I knew.”
Anthony left prison without basic support, including help obtaining identification, housing or mental health services. That experience led him into advocacy and eventually to founding Exonerated Nation.
“Being able to help someone else in their suffering or whatever they’re going through helped me,” Anthony noted, adding that he also helped to advocate for legislation known as “Obie’s Law,” aimed at helping people receive identification upon release.
“Continue to listen,” Anthony urged Cane’s audience, “to these stories of individuals like myself that sat in prison for crimes we didn’t commit.”
