He was Shawshank’d

One of my favorite movies ever is Shawshank Redemption.  The story is brilliantly adapted from Stephen King, the acting is incredible, and philosophically it appeals to my strong sense of justice.  I shudder to think that people like that are wrongly imprisoned and have their lives stolen from them.
It happened to Alan Newton.  He spent over 20 years in prison for crimes that he did not commit – rape and some other charges.  Eyewitness testimony put him behind bars… makes you wonder how they choose people for the police line-up… doesn’t it?
Newton lost 20 years of his life, but he just won over $18 million.  A New York court awarded him the money, so he finally got his justice.   His plans are to go to law school, become a lawyer, and represent the vast majority of people that are shut out by the elitist judicial system.  He wants to make sure that what happened to him doesn’t happen to anyone else.  That’s real justice.

Read the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/nyregion/20award.html

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