In 1986, I was arrested and accused of committing a rape and robbery in a shoe store in Lake Elsinore, California – a crime I did not commit. After failing to find the assailant in Lake Elsinore’s high school yearbooks, the victim identified me from a photo found in the police station’s briefing room where she was being questioned. (I was wanted for questioning in connection with another investigation, also for a crime I didn’t commit. I was convicted of the shoe store crime and sentenced to 45 years and eight months in prison. After 14 years behind bars for a crime I didn’t commit, the Innocence Project helped me obtain DNA testing in my case and I was freed in February of 2000. After my release, I pursued a college education and started a small hip hop clothing business.

Soon after leaving prison I reunited with Machara, a friend from childhood who had taken an interest in my plight and the issue of wrongful convictions. She was unaware of my romantic intention as a business partner and I was able to convince Machara that we would be more effective as a team if she married me. In addition to working as an attendance clerk for the Compton (California) Unified School District and operating her small lingerie and novelties business on the side, Machara attended many fund raisers and conferences with me, which sparked her desire to get involved with the work of helping the exonerated build new lives after their release.

After making our marital vows to one another in 2006, Machara and I took it further and vowed to dedicate our lives to fighting for judicial reforms and helping the wrongfully convicted. In 2007 we started the LIFE Foundation with great hopes of making a meaningful contribution to the wrongfully convicted and their families. Click here to learn more about the foundation’s work.

Herman Atkins
January 2009