Hard work and dedication.

A man that was wrongfully imprisoned for 8 years for a sexual assault that he never committed managed to overturn his own conviction and worked his way up and is currently working as a defense lawyer.

The man is dedicated to working for people that have been wrongfully convicted.

Jarret Adams, the man, was accused of rape after attending a party at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the year 1998.

Adams, who is from Chicago, and his 2 friends were arrested and charged with sexual assault despite a witness statement contradicted the claims of the accuser.

During an interview with CNN, Adams said that they were innocent, but he realized that their innocence had nothing to do with the truth because it was all about race.

The man said:

We were all Black and we were accused by a White girl of rape, so no matter what we said we were never going to be believed. Never.

The teen attended court in Wisconsin, where 17-year-old kids are prosecuted as adults.

During the trial, the testimony of the accuser dramatically changed and they ended up in a mistrial.

The court called for a re-trial, during which Adams’ public defender called for a ‘no defense theory’, which prevented the use of witness statements.

This resulted in him being found guilty.

One of the other men that were charged had been able to afford a private attorney, which helped them prevent spending a day in jail.

The man, who was not named, had his charges dismissed after the police turned over an important witness statement.

Recalling the sentencing and the incident, the man said:

That decision not to join in that motion cost me almost a decade in my life. We’re talking about the same case, being accused by the same person, and the difference was having an adequate defense. When you want to talk about the flaws and the problems wrong with the criminal justice system, that’s a direct example right there.

Adams and the third man, who also got a 20 years prison sentence in a maximum-security prison, but the judge gave Adams an additional 8 years in jail because he refused to apologize.

The judge of the case wanted Adams to apologize for a rape that had never happened.

After 1 year and 6 months in jail, the cellmate of Adams encouraged him to go to the law library and learn about why his own defense had failed him.

He learned that his public defender violated his rights by failing to locate and call a known witness of the case.

Adams said:

Everyone has a constitutional right to an effective attorney. And so therefore, my constitutional right was violated by not having an effective attorney.

Using the newspapers that he had access to in the prison, Adams managed to identify attorneys litigating cases that could support his argument and managed to work with one to begin drafting a habeas petition.

In 2004, the case of Adams was brought on by the Innocence Project, who told him that they could not understand how on Earth he was there with a 28-year prison sentence.

8 years after his arrest, the Innocence Project argued that the case of Adams and brought it to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The court unanimously overturned the convictions of Adams on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel.

In February 2007, he had all charges against him dismissed

After getting released from prison, Adams had something in his mind.

The man enrolled in college and received his associate’s degree, which was followed by a bachelor’s in criminal law.

The man ended up graduating from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law in May 2015 and was even hired by the Innocence Project.

Yes, the ones that helped him get out of prison hired him!

The man now works for his own private practice and uses his power to help people avoid getting jail sentences for crimes that they had never committed.

Adams said:

To be able to go back in a courtroom in the same state in which I was wrongfully convicted, and them now having to address me as an attorney, it gives you a sense of, ‘I am human. I am human, and respect me as such.’ I strongly believe that the problems with our criminal justice system will only get better when we infiltrate the system, meaning more Black judges, more Black prosecutors, more Black, young Black attorneys, like young Black knowledgeable, powerful young men changing the stereotype that we’ve had to deal with forever. That’s what we need, and I’m hoping my story will go to that movement.

Adams has helped overturn a number of cases in court.

The dedication has helped Adams overturn the case of Kevin Bailey, a man that serve 30 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit.

Adams is also the one that helped Richard Beranek get out of prison. Richard was spending time in jail after being wrongly convicted of sexual assault in 1990.

Such an amazing thing to do Mr. Adams!

What are your thoughts about the kind act of Mr. Adams and his dedication to help out other people? Let us know what you think about them by leaving a comment in the comments section below!