Turn on more accessible mode. Turn off more accessible mode. Skip Ribbon Commands. Skip to main content. Turn off Animations. Turn on Animations. Make a Gift. After serving more than 25 years in Texas prisons for a crime he did not commit, Johnnie Lindsey was proven innocent through DNA testing and freed in September He was 30 years old when he was arrested and 56 when he was freed. Her assailant said he had a knife and pulled her off the bicycle, threatened her and raped her.
The Investigation The victim described the attacker to police as an African-American man in his 20s. A rape kit was collected from her at the hospital, including swabs from her body. Lindsey helped him adjust to a changed world and, before long, Scott felt normal.
Or something close to it. Lindsey encouraged Scott to lobby the Legislature and talk about his experiences, especially to prosecutors. Scott said their bond deepened when a film crew made a documentary about their efforts to free others who might also be wrongly convicted. Now, CBS is developing a scripted television show based on their lives.
The two traveled the state to talk to cops, lawyers, witnesses and anyone else who might help free someone they believed was wrongly convicted. Scott bestowed Lindsey with several nicknames. If Scott wanted to meet up at 1 p. Together, though, they were Batman and Robin, Scott said. He showed me how to follow and then how to be a leader.
That was me and Johnnie, we rode alongside each other. He spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Lindsey is flanked by Dr. John Stickels and attorney Michelle Moore. Lindsey gave some of the money he received from the state of Texas for his wrongful conviction to Beach to purchase instruments for a music school she was starting.
Sherita has more to worry about than Johnnie's care and what will happen in the coming days. Like all Texas exonerees, part of Johnnie's payout from the state for his wrongful conviction comes in monthly checks. Payments are scheduled to continue throughout the exoneree's typical life expectancy.
But if they die, the money stops. Johnnie could have opted to take less each month from the check and have it set aside for Sherita. But he didn't because that would have meant less money each month and it was unclear to several exonerees what happens to the money if a spouse dies first or if there's a divorce. On a recent day, when the house was full of visitors, Johnnie sat at the keyboard and played.
He sits at the keyboard again, dressed in a gray robe, the oxygen tube trailing behind him. He plays a few notes and presses buttons so synthesized music accompanies him. Later, he dozes on the couch and Sherita cries quietly as she kisses him lightly and presses her forehead against his shoulder.
She pats his chest as he clutches a black cherry wood cross, a gift from a friend. And it is. But for Johnnie, it is a song about life and all that it brings. Correction: Story corrected at p. Jennifer Emily. Jennifer is an award-winning reporter at The Dallas Morning News. Join the Observer community and help support independent local journalism in Dallas.
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