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Three exonerated men talk about freedom after spending nearly 30 years in prison 42%
5/30/2026, 2:54:11 AM
BS Summary: This video contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Negativity Bias, and Loss Aversion, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 45.1% saturation with 428 hits. Analysis detected 2,017 faulty-reasoning hits from 950 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.1% and a BS Rank of 42% (9,752 of 16,813 videos). This video is better (less manipulative) than 58.00% of the video peer group.
After spending nearly 30 years in prison, three men in Philadelphia were exonerated in a 1997 murder case.
Our Lindsey Davis spoke with Rashid Turner, Jamel Shuler, Mark Bridgham, and Exoneration Project attorney Tara Thompson about their fight for justice since their release earlier this week and their new found freedom.
This week in Philadelphia, there was an emotional reunion for three men who were released from prison after all three were exonerated in the 1997 murder case of 73-year-old Essie May Palmer in Philadelphia.
Rashid Turner and Jamel Shuler were released on Tuesday and Mark Bridgham was released a day later where he was greeted by the other two men for an emotional embrace after a long fight for freedom.
They were all exonerated nearly three decades later after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that the case which relied on one single witness had fallen apart.
We're joined now by the three men along with the attorney and co-director of the Exoneration Project Tara Thompson who represents Jamel Shuler.
Thank you all so much for joining us.
Congratulations to the three of you.
Rashid, let's start with you. After decades of being wrongfully imprisoned, what does freedom feel like?
>> Uh, freedom is nerve-wracking.
I mean, trying to adjust to the world right now is like chaos going on around me, but I'm I'm trying I'm trying to get it. Trying to get there.
>> And Jamel, how are you feeling right now?
>> I feel good actually. I feel overwhelmed, but I feel good though.
>> What's been the best part of being a free man?
>> For me, the best part is you can make your own choices.
>> Uh-huh.
>> You know, that's refreshing after being told what to do for so long.
It's refreshing and it feel great.
A lot of people probably uh, I could see from my few days out, I can see that people would a lot of people don't cherish it and it's normal to them.
But for me I'm still taking it all in and I appreciate it just seeing it.
>> And Jamel, how did you continue to be resilient knowing that you were an innocent man all these years and had lost your freedom?
>> Cuz I I refuse to let the system beat me.
And I wanted to have a voice.
I know how I feel to be unheard and you know, I just wanted to get the last laugh so to say.
>> What would you like now? How How do you feel that that justice would be served at this point for all the decades that you had taken away from your life?
>> Right now I just I just want to have a normal life right now.
You know, just being away from our families like
I some like my my brother his mother passed away during this time.
And me and Jamel we was we was we was grateful to still have our mothers like we thought we would never see our mothers or our families again at the time.
So you know, just to be able to hug the young ones and be able to to see our sisters and our brothers is is is amazing.
You know what I mean? We thought we would never do that again.
>> Rasheed, what is the most painful aspect of all of this?
>> The most painful aspect of all of this is
Oh man, just just just the time I missed. It felt like I missed so much. It felt like I'm so behind.
Like it it it it feels like I'm an alien out here in the world.
You know, I I I feel like I don't belong. Like everything's been taken away from me to the point to where like I feel like I'm lost at times.
And then people just tell me like just take it one day at a time, but that's easier said than done.
>> Tara, the Innocence Project began reviewing the case back in 2009.
What was your role and and why did the case fall apart?
>> A lot of lawyers ended up having to join forces to help make these men's release possible. And ultimately, what we know as a result of the facts that came out in this case is that the scientific testimony that was offered at their trial was false.
I mean, that's something that the District Attorney's Office here acknowledged in agreeing these men should be released.
And thanks to a lot of work and a lot of effort by different organizations, we we've been able to establish that and prove that.
Unfortunately, in this case, this didn't save these men from losing almost 30 years of their life, but it's good that we were able to find that error and correct it now.
>> And so, is there any case? Can they get money? Is there any scenario in Pennsylvania where they can take some kind of action for this?
>> Pennsylvania doesn't have a state compensation process.
And I think I speak for Jamar at least, but I know that's not what's on his mind today.
What's on his mind today is celebrating his freedom and, you know, as all of these men talked about trying to get their lives back, trying to look for their place in this world, and to think about what's next for them.
>> And if I could just ask each of you, you can go in any order, but what's been the biggest difference?
I mean, more than 30
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