Young Man Was Sentenced To Prison For A Crime He Did Not Commit

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Colombian Johnny Hincapié, 45, told his heartwarming story to Rashel Díaz of Un Nuevo Día (Telemundo). In 1990, when he was 18 years old, he was arrested by the police for a crime he did not commit. A group of teenagers robbed and murdered a Utah tourist on the New York subway, and Johnny was wrongfully taken to prison. He claims that NYPD officials forced him to plead guilty and he was sentenced to be 25 years behind bars.

“I didn't expect this to happen to me. I had dreams, I wanted to do something with my life,”he told the morning program. The man was in nine prisons and graduated from prison with a master's degree in theology and even studied theater. Frustrated at not having the evidence to show his innocence, Hincapié wrote to priests and political leaders to help him get out of jail since he couldn't afford a lawyer, he says, but nobody helped him. His despair was such that he even thought about committing suicide, but reveals that God guided him and allowed him to survive 22 years in prison.

Hincapié was finally released in 2015 after proving his innocence. Two of the young people involved in that crime testified that Hincapié had nothing to do with the case. The case was reopened and a lawyer managed to get him out of jail.

“I was sad, my life changed forever. I thought I was going to die in prison, "he confesses. "I begged, I was praying to God: Why am I here? I couldn't understand anything. " Although he lived inside a dark cell, he managed to get ahead thanks to his spirituality. "They turned off the lights to one and one looked for the way to look for the light inside one to see if he could see another day", he adds. Today he is grateful to be a free man and his testimony shows the power of faith. "God heard my prayer, he felt my pain," says Hincapié.