Death row exoneree Anthony Graves spent 18 and a half years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. During that time, he witnessed hundreds of executions and watched his family struggle with the consequences of his wrongful conviction.
In this episode, Graves joined SiriusXM Urban View host Clay Cane on his “Exonerated” podcast to discuss his incarceration, the lasting impact on his family and why he believes the death penalty should be abolished.
“My family is still impacted by this wrongful conviction,” Graves told Cane. “This thing has a ripple effect. It destroys lives. It destroys families.”
Graves recalled that his mother sought counseling while his siblings struggled to visit him in prison.
“My sons had to grow up without me,” he said. “For 18 and a half years, they created such a gap in my family that we’re trying to figure out how to get back together.”
Graves also recollected the day he was released and called his mother with the news.
“I just want you to know I’m out. I’ve just been released, and I did not escape,” he remembered telling her.
When Cane asked whether Texas officials had ever apologized, Graves said lawmakers had offered handshakes and personal apologies, but those gestures were insufficient.
“An apology to me would be abolishing the death penalty because that’s the one thing that you used to try to murder me,” he replied.
Graves questioned why executions continue despite wrongful convictions.
“Stop asking people, ‘Do they believe in it?’ No one cares. Ask them the right question: ‘Does the death penalty work?'”
Now working in community outreach at the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, Graves has turned his experience into advocacy.
“It’s like just taking my life back and making some sense of what happened to me,” he added. “That’s why I do what I do.”
