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Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

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Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#51

Post by danso »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #41
mratzloff wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may do that? You absolutely should. You're promoting his cause. See if you can have space in the program to talk about his transition and the financial assistance campaign in particular.

There's a ton of media interest. I'm only going to appear on Dateline if I have some assurance that the new piece will be fairer than the original one that got my attention.

What did you find unfair about the original piece? I haven't seen it but I had assumed it would be relatively favorable if Dateline had chosen to publicize the case 15 years after the murder and 6 years after the conviction.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#52

Post by Jemmeh »

Clothing: Thrift stores. Specifically, if you go to the church thrift stores and you say "We are trying to help him get back on his feet" they will often give you a discount and/or some clothes for free.

Jobs: Side gigs on craigslist. Lawn care, concrete, helping people move...you can look on craigslist and find these. It's not perfect, but it's -some- cash flow until he can find someone willing to hire.

Transportation: There are enough funds to get an old car for probably around $1k or less just to start out. Can resell it later and get something better once he gets more stable. But it will provide transport to side gigs and worst case a roof over his head. I've had to sleep in my car more than a few times.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#53

Post by jpindar »

2pointsomone wrote: post #45

I write this knowing how bad of an idea it is but it still is a gut reaction so I will say it. Find a way to move him to Oakland and get him to be on the YC Basic Income experiment. I bet the learning to YCR from this would be extremely high, given I feel like fixing the prison system will probably be on their agenda for future research.

It would pretty much ruin the experiment if they allowed volunteers.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#54

Post by wireedin »

Hollywood, maybe? Netflix made a series on Steven Avery that created an enormous amount of attention to that case. Him being in the army, coming back to his country, being arrested for a activity that he didn't do, spending 11 years behind the bars and finally being released as an innocent man is a great story to tell. Since hollywood is running out of stories these days that could be an option. Hell, maybe Netflix would want to tie this to the next season of "Making a murderer"?

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#56

Post by masukomi »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #20
costcopizza wrote: post #7

Churches. I currently tutor a formerly homeless man whom I met through an Episcopal church. They saw him sleeping outside the front door and took him in. They connected him with low income housing services who found him a subsidized apartment and gave him a job working in the cafeteria of their school. I'd visit a few parishes and ask friends/family who are churchgoing for direction. Best of luck and I hope Ray gets…

That's a great thought. Do you know of any online Christian outlets or forums that might be open to promoting Ray's GoFundMe?

I think people like to help more directly. I'd talk with churches in the same state as Ray. Physical goods and places to be are as useful as money to a person in that situation, and people typically have a lot of extra "stuff" that they'd be happy to part with to help a person in need, especially if it was brought up in church. They'd probably raise some money directly for him too.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#58

Post by fecak »

ClintEhrlich wrote: post #14
fecak wrote: post #10

I wonder if Dateline would have interest in updating his story, and if there might be any compensation for something like that. I'm not involved in TV production, but you would think if they had enough interest to report on his conviction (which happens every day) there would be an even better story regarding his release.

Dateline has asked me to sit down for an interview with Keith Morrison. I may do that, but there will be no compensation involved.

Your original question was "how I can help him get money for housing, food, and clothes?". Whether or not you speak to the media, and whether those appearances are paid, probably wouldn't impact your client's financial situation unless you intended to share it.

If Dateline is interested in speaking to you, one could be relatively sure that Dateline would be equally (if not more) interested in speaking with him.

I see your post now mentions that he might be reluctant to speak until his charges are formally dropped (I don't recall seeing that initially, so either I missed it or you edited it perhaps?). Scheduling an interview and having it go to air is likely to take time anyway, but I'd imagine that if he requested some fee to speak to Dateline that they'd oblige given the situation.

Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but I'd like to think that a network that profited over the publicizing of a conviction would give at least some small compensation to have the convicted discuss his release and case.

Re: Ask HN: Just got an innocent man out of prison. What now?

#59

Post by ClintEhrlich »

danso wrote: post #51
ClintEhrlich wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a ton of media interest. I'm only going to appear on Dateline if I have some assurance that the new piece will be fairer than the original one that got my attention.

What did you find unfair about the original piece? I haven't seen it but I had assumed it would be relatively favorable if Dateline had chosen to publicize the case 15 years after the murder and 6 years after the conviction.

The Dateline piece came out right after Ray's conviction. I just happened to see it 5 years later.

It portrayed him as a craven killer who was brought to justice only through the Herculean efforts of police and prosecutors who wouldn't let the absence of any physical evidence stop them from getting a conviction.

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