Nick Yarris

Although disputed by some family members, Yarris has stated he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child at the hands of another youth, which led him into addiction to alcohol, drugs and the commission of petty crime in his teens.{{Cite AV media|title=The Fear of 13|date=2015|type=Documentary|place=United Kingdom}} On December 21, 1981, Yarris and a friend stole a car. Yarris, then age 20, was blasting music while driving under the influence when he was stopped by police in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

The officer and Yarris got into a physical confrontation, and the policeman's gun discharged. Yarris was charged with the kidnapping and attempted murder of a police officer. He was later tried and acquitted of those charges.{{cite court|litigants=Yarris v. County of Delaware, et al. |vol=465 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=129 |pinpoint=132 |court=3d Cir. |date=Oct. 2, 2006 |url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/2006594465f3d1291592 |access-date=10 January 2022}}

While in jail, facing a possible sentence of life in prison, he spotted a newspaper article about the December 16, 1981, murder and rape of Linda Mae Craig, who had been abducted from a Delaware shopping center but whose body had been found in Pennsylvania. Her true murderer is still unknown. In an effort to win favor with the authorities and avoid the consequences of his pending charges, Yarris claimed that he knew who had committed the unsolved rape-murder. When the man he named, whom he had wrongly believed to be recently deceased, proved upon investigation to be plainly uninvolved, Yarris became the number-one suspect.{{cite journal |last1=Cassell |first1=Paul |title=Overstating America's Wrongful Conviction Rate? Reassessing the Conventional Wisdom About the Prevalence of Wrongful Convictions |journal=Arizona Law Review |date=2018 |volume=60 |pages=815, 830–831}}{{cite journal|last1=Machell|first1=Ben|title=I spent 22 years on Death Row - I was innocent|journal=The Times|date=12 November 2016|issue=72066|pages=34–69|location=The Times Magazine|issn=0140-0460}}

Yarris was then charged with the abduction, rape and murder of Craig. After a short jury trial, Yarris was found guilty. In July 1982, at age 21, he was sentenced to death.{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesherald.com/article/JR/20150912/NEWS/150919947|title=Death Penalty: Nicholas Yarris spent 22 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit|date=2012-09-12|work=The Times Herald|access-date=2016-11-16}} Yarris escaped from custody while being transported to a post-sentence hearing, but was arrested in Florida about a month later, where he identified himself. Florida authorities agreed to return him to Pennsylvania's death row.{{cite news |title=John M. Roman, retired Daily Times reporter, dies at 73 |url=https://www.delcotimes.com/2015/09/08/john-m-roman-retired-daily-times-reporter-dies-at-73/ |access-date=7 January 2022 |work=Delaware County Daily Times |date=8 September 2015}} Numerous appeals and post-conviction challenges proved unavailing. During his time in prison, Yarris taught himself to read, married a prison volunteer visitor, and became the first death row prisoner to seek DNA testing.{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Lynda Guydon |title=Wife seeks inmate's freedom: condemned man wants DNA test |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqoxAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Nick+Yarris%22&pg=PA22&article_id=6440,4807937 |access-date=7 January 2022 |work=Pittsburgh Press-Gazette |date=17 September 1990}}{{cite book |last1=Yarris |first1=Nicholas |title=The Fear of 13 (originally titled 'Seven Days to Live') |date=2008 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=978-1784756451 |edition=paperback 2017 }} In 2003, with the aid of a team of court-appointed lawyers (including Christina Swarns,{{cite web |last1=Bouza |first1=Teresa |last2=Burgos |first2=Annalisa |last3=Demian |first3=Sinziana |title=Life After Exoneration (video documentary) |url=https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/journalism/masters/2004.html |website=2004 Master's Projects - Graduate School of Journalism |publisher=Columbia University Libraries |access-date=15 August 2022}} later to become Executive Director of the national Innocence Project{{cite web |title=Staff |url=https://innocenceproject.org/disciplines/staff/#ChristinaSwarns |website=The Innocence Project |access-date=4 January 2022}}), a third round of DNA testing (following prior inconclusive efforts), some of it on previously undisclosed physical evidence, proved that two unidentified men, not Yarris, had committed the crime.{{cite news |last1=Nash |first1=Cindi |title=DNA evidence exonerates death-row inmate |url=https://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20031210yarris1210p1.asp |access-date=7 January 2022 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=10 December 2003}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37974904|title=Nick Yarris: 'How I survived 22 years on death row'|last=Cacciottolo|first=Mario|date=2016-11-16|newspaper=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-11-16}} In January 2004, after resolving the escape-related charges, he was released.

Following his exoneration and release, Yarris protested once a week outside the District Attorney's Office, demanding that the DNA samples be submitted to the FBI database to find Craig's real rapists and killers.{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Meggan |title=Have We Abandoned the Innocent? Society's Debt to the Wrongly Convicted |journal=Criminal Law Brief |date=Spring 2007 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=3, 11|publisher=American University, Washington College of Law |url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/clb/vol2/iss2/2 |access-date=9 January 2022}} Yarris sued the Delaware County District Attorney's Office in federal court for malicious prosecution, and the case eventually settled for $4 million in 2008.{{Cite news|url=http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-wrongful-conviction-compensation-20141004-story.html|title=State gives no money to people wrongly convicted|last=Hall|first=Peter|date=2014-10-04|newspaper=The Morning Call|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-13}}{{cite news |last1=Farr |first1=Stephanie |last2=Bender |first2=William |title=Freed by DNA, paid by Delco |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080110_Freed_by_DNA__paid_by_Delco.html |access-date=9 January 2022 |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=10 January 2008}}

In 2005, Yarris moved to the UK, where he worked with Reprieve, married and had a daughter. (He had eventually divorced the prison visitor-volunteer who married him while he was incarcerated.) Following a second divorce, he married his third wife, also from the UK.{{cite news |title='He has more baggage than an airport ... but I love him' |url=https://stories.swns.com/news/nick-yarris-freed-barmaid-has-baggage-airport-love-him-33685/ |access-date=11 September 2021 |work=SWNS |publisher=South West News Service Ltd |date=4 April 2013}} The couple then moved back to the United States. Following another divorce, Yarris returned to the UK and married for a fourth time, moving from Somerset to Oregon.{{cite news |title=Innocent man Nick Yarris on Death Row: 'I screwed up my life with a lie' |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/innocent-man-nick-yarris-on-death-row-i-screwed-up-my-life-with-a-lie/UV7WKW32X4YLCJFMSLN4CFJA6U/ |access-date=11 September 2021 |work=nzherald.co.nz |publisher=NZME Publishing Ltd |date=7 July 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Tim |title='I could not get through the script without crying': Adrien Brody talks to the death row survivor who he's playing on the London stage |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/13/nick-yarris-adrien-brody-the-fear-of-13-donmar-death-row |access-date=16 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Ltd. |date=13 October 2024}} The couple separated in February 2021.

Yarris is the author of the death row memoir Seven Days to Live (2008) (later reissued as The Fear of 13).{{Cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/2008-01-10/news/25253732_1_nicholas-yarris-linda-mae-craig-dna-tests|title=Archives - Philly.com|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=2016-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005142051/http://articles.philly.com/2008-01-10/news/25253732_1_nicholas-yarris-linda-mae-craig-dna-tests|archive-date=2016-10-05|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/mar/12/harpercollins-death-row-nick-yarris|title=HarperCollins sued by former death row prisoner over ditched book|last=Halliday|first=Josh|date=2013-03-12|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-16|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} He has also self-published books titled The Kindness Approach (2017),{{Cite web|url=https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/shows/i-am-a-killer/articles/interview-with-nick-yarris-who-wrongly-spent-22-years-on-death-row|title=Interview with Nick Yarris who Wrongly Spent 22 Years on Death Row|date=2018-08-07|website=Crime + Investigation|language=en|access-date=2020-01-16}} My Journey Through Her Eyes (2017), Monsters and Madmen (2018) (experiences on death row at the since-decommissioned SCI Pittsburgh), and Mind Your Heart, Nick Yarris (2024) (a memoir of the 20 years since his exoneration).{{cite web |title=My Books: The Unfiltered Truth |url=https://nickyarrisofficial.com/books |website=Nicholas J. Yarris |access-date=7 October 2024}}

Yarris is one of the exonerees profiled in the award-winning documentary, After Innocence (2005).{{cite web |title=After Innocence |url=https://afterinnocence.net/ |access-date=17 November 2021}} He is also the subject and protagonist-narrator of David Sington's documentary The Fear of 13 released in 2015.{{cite web |title=The Fear of 13 (2015) |url=https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-fear-of-13/ |website=Watchdocumentaries |date=9 October 2015 |access-date=2022-01-22}}{{cite web |last1=Costakes |first1=Ariana |title=Death Row Exoneree Nick Yarris Speaks About Fear of 13, the Documentary Recounting His Wrongful Conviction |url=https://innocenceproject.org/yarris-discusses-fear-of-13/ |date=August 18, 2016 |website=Innocence Project: News |publisher=Innocence Project |access-date=23 July 2024}} Another documentary, featuring Yarris and two other exonerees, titled Life After Death, directed by Lior Geller, was in post-production as of 2024.{{cite web |title=Life After Death |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27739591/ |website=IMDB |access-date=7 October 2024}} Yarris appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience on September 11, 2018, talking at length about his life story.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIc5XYpRc1M|title = - YouTube|website = YouTube| date=11 September 2018 }} The Yarris case was explored in a two-part interview for the December 11, 2019 episode (Season 9) of the podcast, Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom,{{cite web |last1=Flom |first1=Jason |title=Wrongful Conviction, Season 9 |url=https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom |website=With Jason Flom |publisher=Lava for Good |access-date=17 November 2021}} and was the subject of the June 17, 2019 episode of CNN/HLN's Death Row Stories, "A Prison of His Own" (Season 4, Episode 3).{{cite web |title=A Prison of His Own (June 17, 2019) |publisher=Death Row Stories |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DirnWRdxfEo |website=YouTube |date=16 June 2019 |access-date=17 November 2021}} An extended interview, edited to highlight Yarris's talent as a first-person storyteller, appeared in February 2023 on filmmaker and photographer Mark Laita's widely-watched YouTube channel, Soft White Underbelly.{{cite web |last1=Laita |first1=Mark |title=Wrongfully Convicted Death Row Inmate - Nick Yarris |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvx-ufCDaS0 |website=Soft White Underbelly |date=26 February 2023 |access-date=24 June 2023}} A stage play based on the Sington documentary, written by Lindsey Ferrentino and starring Adrien Brody as Yarris, opened in October 2024 at the Donmar Warehouse in London.{{cite news |last1=McIntosh |first1=Steven |title=Oscar winner Brody set for first London stage role |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw44q22wj4lo |access-date=5 July 2024 |publisher=BBC |date=24 June 2024}}{{cite web |title=THE FEAR OF 13 by Lindsey Ferrentino |url=https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/whats-on/36/by-lindsey-ferrentino/the-fear-of-13 |website=Donmar |publisher=Donmar Warehouse Projects |access-date=5 July 2024}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Overturned convictions in the United States

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:American people wrongfully convicted of murder

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Category:1961 births

Category:American emigrants to England

Category:Writers from Philadelphia

Category:20th-century American people

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Category:People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania

Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Pennsylvania