He couldn't afford lawyers to prove his innocence for 30 years—a new attorney's decision changed everything
Achieving justice can sometimes take a while and it’s hard to keep hope. A man named Thomas Raynard James had been behind bars for 32 years for a crime he didn’t commit, NBC News reported. After several attempts to find a lawyer, he was stuck in an endless loop of rejection. Nevertheless, James and his loved ones remained persistent in the face of trial and met Natalie Figgers, a rookie lawyer, who changed their fate. James was put into prison for the murder of Francis McKinnon back in 1990. McKinnon’s stepdaughter, Dorothy Wilson, had testified against James, claiming that he was the shooter.
The officers had also received a tip about a name, James Thomas. His friends had been saving up to pay lawyers, but the few that agreed had fees that were higher than what they could afford. The man spent over three decades in jail. Finally, the friends learned of Figgers, a business and personal injury attorney who had completed law school two years ago. Her forte did not include cases like James’. Nevertheless, weeks before she gave birth to her son, she read up on his case and decided to take it up. Six weeks after delivery, she got to work, trying to get to the root of the truth.
She spent over 2,000 hours on James’ case to acquire as much information as possible. She spoke to 75 people related to the case. Figgers wanted to leave no stone unturned in getting James justice. After an 18-month hardcore investigation, the woman presented her findings to the Conviction Review Unit, an entity under the Florida Justice Institute. Known to identify, prevent and correct wrong convictions, the committee reviewed the evidence offered by the attorney. Figgers didn’t stop there; she continued to pull every truth to set her client free.
“I couldn’t stop until he was out. So, I kept giving them more. It became overwhelming evidence of his innocence,” she remarked. She found nine sets of fingerprints at the scene of the crime, none of which were James’. Moreover, the authorities prioritized Wilson’s testimony to primarily accuse the man. What was not uncovered was that the name identified — Thomas James — also belonged to a criminal who lived around the area. However, when the officers put the name into the database, it showed James’ name under a "drug trade.” They didn’t look for further physical evidence and accused the innocent.
The actual criminal had a connection to Vincent Cephas Williams, the man who robbed McKimmons on the night of his murder. This connection was uncovered after Figgers spoke to witnesses. The attorney also spoke to Wilson, who refused to give statements to anyone else over the years. When Figgers met with her, she described it as an “emotional moment.” “I told her, ‘If God tells you to give me a call when I leave, please give me a call. I’m doing this because he is an innocent person. And I’m doing this because God put me here,'” she said. Turns out, she did receive a call from the stepdaughter.
“She asked me how I knew it wasn’t him. I said, ‘Because I know.’ And she said, ‘I know it wasn’t him, too.’” With a polygraph test as the final piece of evidence, James was finally declared innocent. After 32 long years, he was out of prison, Figgers shared in a post. This case changed the lives of both James and Figgers. The man earned several degrees while in prison and became a “different man” woven by his experience. On the other hand, Figgers said, “This case really shaped me in a different way on how I take on cases.” She explained how she would initially avoid criminal law but seeing how many like James wrongfully suffer, pushed her to act.
"Knowing you can save a life is something truly rewarding. Nothing compares to that," the attorney remarked. Speaking of Figgers’ life-saving intervention, James called her his "SHERO," a post revealed. He shared, “I never asked anybody to believe what I was saying. What I did was say for any and everybody to simply admit that if what I was saying was true, that I had been wrongly convicted." He added, "But the only way you can reach that conclusion is to delve into the depths of my situation. Natlie Figgers did. I owe her my life.”