Derrick Williams, a man who spent 18 years behind bars before being exonerated of a crime he did not commit, spoke at UF Hillel on Thursday.
Williams, who was convicted of sexual battery in 1993, was released from prison on April 4, 2011.
In front of about 135 people, he said after being brought in front of a jury, he was sentenced to two natural lifetimes in prison.
“I just fell down crying, asking, ‘Lord, how can this be?’” he said. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, you got the wrong man.’”
He said once the Florida Innocence Project agreed to take up his case, his hope was restored. After being released, members of the project gave him clothes and gas cards while he searched for an honest dollar.
Williams now works in aerospace, making parts for aircraft.
“God has restored it all,” he said. “I got a beautiful wife and a beautiful truck.”
Ezra Siegel, a 20-year-old political science junior and programming intern at UF Hillel, said bringing Williams to campus was a part of the Center for Character Leadership and Service’s social impact week.
Siegel said he learned of Williams’ story through the Innocence Project, a group he first heard about in his judicial politics course.
“I think that wrongful imprisonment is a perfect example of social justice,” he said.
He said with the U.S. holding the worldwide lead for incarceration rates and overcrowded prisons, bringing Williams to speak to UF students would give them the insight they need as voters if there are ever referendums on the country’s prison system.
Jackie Pugh, development coordinator for nonprofit Florida’s Innocence Project, took the podium first to explain the organization’s three-pronged mission.
Pugh said its goal is to find and free those wrongfully convicted, rebuild their lives and work to correct the judicial system.
She said the Florida division, which was founded in 2003, primarily uses DNA testing to exonerate its clients.
“We are the last hope for these people,” Pugh said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/25/2013 under the headline "Exonerated man tells story at UF Hillel"
