From exoneree to innocence lawyer

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I'm the first exonery to be exonerated

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by an innocence project and then go on

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to be a lawyer for an innocence project.

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The best thing to do with your anger is

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to use it as the fuel that drives you to

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reach goals in life. My name is Jared

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Adams and this is my story.

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At the age of 17, I was sentenced to 28

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years in a maximum security prison. I

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was falsely accused of a sexual assault

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I didn't commit. And I realized very

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quickly early on, it had nothing to do

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with the truth. It was about

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race. If you can't afford to prove your

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innocence, the court affords an attorney

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to you. My lawyer convinced my family

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and I that a no defense theory was the

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best theory of defense. It was a

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horrible idea and that defense

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contributed to me being found

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guilty. I was incarcerated in prison. So

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I was there for almost a decade. One day

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is too long when you're innocent. I was

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a kid. I was absolutely terrified. My

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entire youth was gone. This is when boys

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become men. I missed out on all of that.

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I was at the time broken. But when I

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continued