…By Jack Sylva for TDPel Media.
Former Death Row inmate Nick Yarris, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, managed to escape while being transported after a prison guard went to the toilet.
Yarris, who spent 22 years in prison, the first three in solitary confinement, made a bid for freedom in February 1985 when he was being transported for a new trial.
After he came out of the restroom cubicle, the officer standing there had to leave to urinate, allowing Yarris to go back to the car by himself.
Yarris managed to dodge the police by running repeatedly for 100 yards, turning right, and running 100 yards again until he ended up back in the same spot where he started.
He stayed hidden behind a police station until he started to freeze and then made a run for it.
The police chased him with a helicopter for five and a half hours before he managed to slide down a snow bank and evade them.
He eventually drove to New York City in a 1965 green Mustang and was on the run for 25 days before turning himself in.
Yarris was sentenced to death after being wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig in July 1982 at the age of 21.
After learning about DNA testing in 1988, he became the first Death Row prisoner to request it.
However, it would take another 15 years before he was finally found innocent of the crime.
In 2003, after a third round of tests, it was found that two other men, not Yarris, had committed the murder.
He was released in January 2004 after clearing the charges related to his escape.
Yarris spent time in several prisons, including the B Block of Huntingdon Prison in Pennsylvania, which he said was designed to “break you”.
He also rubbed shoulders with some of America’s most high-profile criminals, including Gary Heidnick, whose crimes inspired the movie Silence Of The Lambs, who was his prison neighbour for two and a half years.
His escape attempt landed him another 35 years on top of his existing sentence.
Yarris’s story of wrongful conviction and escape serves as a reminder of the flaws in the criminal justice system and the importance of fair trials and the use of evidence-based methods such as DNA testing.
His case also highlights the psychological impact of prolonged solitary confinement and the need for reform in the prison system.
Despite being wrongfully imprisoned for over two decades, Yarris remained resilient and fought for his innocence, eventually clearing his name with the help of DNA evidence.