美国国家公共电台 NPR An Exoneree Shares His Story Of Wrongful Conviction In 'Anatomy Of Innocence'

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

In 2007, after decades insisting he was innocent, Jerry Miller¹ of Chicago was finally vindicated².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: There aren't too many people happier today than Jerry Miller. Hugs abound³.

(APPLAUSE, WHISTLING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: After 25 years in prison for a kidnapping, rape⁵ and robbery that he did not commit, Jerry Miller is now free, his conviction removed from the record based on DNA⁴ testing that proves his innocence⁶.

SHAPIRO: Jerry Miller was the 200th American wrongly convicted to be cleared by DNA evidence. The local ABC station covered his official exoneration⁷, including this apology from Assistant State Attorney Robert Milan.

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ROBERT MILAN: On behalf of the men and women of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, I would like to express my deepest regrets to Mr. Miller and wish him nothing but the best in his future life.

SHAPIRO: Jerry Miller's story is part of a new book called "Anatomy⁸ Of Innocence." It fleshes out personal stories of false convictions with a twist. In each chapter, a famous crime writer tells the story of a real-life exoneree. Miller was paired with John Mankiewicz, an executive producer of the Netflix show "House Of Cards." Miller told me he hoped his chapter of this book would tell the much more complex story behind that attention-grabbing exoneration day at the courthouse.

JERRY MILLER: As my aunt - my famous aunt - would say - she had a lot of sayings - you know, I felt that he would get down to nitty gritty.

SHAPIRO: Writer John Mankowitz told me at first he felt nervous about talking to Jerry.

JOHN MANKIEWICZ: I mean, I just couldn't imagine someone stealing 26 years of your life. And how would you react to that? It's such an overwhelming set of circumstances.

SHAPIRO: And it wasn't only the 26 years that Jerry Miller spent behind bars. After he served his time, before being exonerated⁹, Miller was forced to register as a sex offender¹⁰. He missed nieces' and nephews' birthday parties because he was not allowed to be around children. He had to wear an ankle bracelet¹¹ and keep to a 9 p.m. curfew. Jerry Miller and John Mankiewicz joined me to talk about what it was like to work on this story together. The chapter describes a man free from bitterness, so I started off asking Jerry how he managed to stay hopeful during the long ordeal¹² before he cleared his name.

MILLER: I had a life to live, so I had to choose how I wanted to live it. You know, what comes from a man who is negative and basically is mad at the world because he was wronged? You just have to, you know, accept what is happening and grow from it, you know. To just walk around angry - I mean, that's a waste of the rest of your life.

SHAPIRO: John, you've written for a lot of film and TV. How was this writing experience different?

MANKIEWICZ: I felt a big responsibility to tell the story right. And, in fact, I think we even talked about it. I really only cared about at a very small audience of one - that I cared about thinking - not liking¹³ it - but thinking this - that I'd got it - gotten right.

SHAPIRO: That audience of one being Jerry, the person whose story you're telling.

MANKIEWICZ: Yeah, because so many other people had been telling lies about him, you know, over a period of 26 years - you know, what happened to him. And I wanted to get it right for him. And, by the way, you're writing "House Of Cards?" What's the - worst thing that can happen is it's a bad show, you know. You know, it's TV. You know, the stakes - I felt the stakes were a little higher.

SHAPIRO: So, Jerry, you've heard how nervous John was to write your story - that he was basically doing this for an audience of one, that the stakes felt higher than with the hit TV show that he's an executive producer of. What's the verdict?

MILLER: I see why they have John to write their stories.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MILLER: You know, I mean, he's a good writer. I call - today, I call him the wordsmith. He convinced me that he was going to write a story. He was going to write a story about me, and he was going to tell the truth. And he was going to try to tell it as I would tell it through him.

MANKIEWICZ: Because, if you think about it, every exoneree - every single one who's actually innocent - no one has believed them. And no one has been interested in hearing what the real story was until they're exonerated. You know, there's just another man or woman in jail saying, I'm innocent. I didn't do it. How am I going to prove it? And there are people who give up - right? - even innocent people in jail.

MILLER: Yeah. I mean, just think - what if I gave up, you know? It was not a given that I would not give up, but, you know, hope comes and goes. It doesn't - it's not a - You have to maintain it, but it comes and goes. Believe me. Every day you wake up is not with purpose.

MANKIEWICZ: Well, and also while we were doing this - writing the story which I overreported, you know, by a factor of 10...

SHAPIRO: Really.

MANKIEWICZ: ...Because I was so nervous. Oh, I've talked to people (laughter). I haven't even told you who I've talked to.

MILLER: Yeah (laughter).

MANKIEWICZ: I wanted to get it right. And I had notebooks full of stuff and, you know, 15 computer files.

SHAPIRO: It sounds like you were a little obsessive¹⁴ about this.

MANKIEWICZ: Well, I really - I really wanted to get it right.

SHAPIRO: Just take me to the day you were exonerated and how it felt in that moment when it was official.

MILLER: It was - you know, even now I kind of get a little shook because I actually knew what was getting ready to take place. I was getting ready to get my life back. And, you know, my family - we basically had a caravan¹⁵. We rode out, and, you know, everybody was dressed sharp.

MANKIEWICZ: I mean, you can look at pictures from that day, and you've never seen a smile like this, Ari.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MANKIEWICZ: Jerry smiled so much - I think you told me it hurt.

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: Yeah, it did.

MANKIEWICZ: Yeah.

MILLER: You know, it got even better because when they called me up before the judge, you know, I passed through people who was waiting to have their cases heard or whatever. They saw what was taking place, and everybody started clapping.

SHAPIRO: What do you want this book - this retelling of these stories of exoneration and innocence - what do you want it to accomplish?

MILLER: I mean, I've heard stories even worse than mine, but they're interesting stories about reality. You know, it's not fantasy. It's nothing made up. These are real people who suffer real pain, who has to find their way back to being a productive citizen, you know. And they need support for people not to hear the story. I mean, they would be missing out on the triumphs of human beings and how they're able to struggle hard enough to, you know, regain¹⁶ their life back and clear their family's name. They're important stories that need to be told.

MANKIEWICZ: I mean, in a way, it's, you know, life after innocence. It's a - part of it is, you know, a how-to book by example, you know? There are people who - I mean, you've told me you knew people who confessed just to get it over with. Yeah.

MILLER: Right. People don't - see, they don't they don't know the dynamic of it. They don't know what it takes to accomplish what exonerees do.

MANKIEWICZ: You see the stories in the paper. You see it and you feel like - wrongly accused man gets out of jail after 20, 25 years on DNA evidence. This book, for me, was an attempt to go deeper than that.

SHAPIRO: Jerry Miller and John Mankiewicz, thank you both for sharing this story with us.

MANKIEWICZ: Well, thank you.

MILLER: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

SHAPIRO: Jerry Miller reached a settlement with the city of Chicago after his exoneration. He now lives in Virginia, where he's studying computer programming. John Mankiewicz is an executive producer of "House Of Cards." The book is called "Anatomy Of Innocence: Testimonies¹⁷ Of The Wrongly Convicted."

 

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1 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

2 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

6 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

7 exoneration   

n.免罪，免除

参考例句：

• Empathy for the criminal's childhood misery does not imply exoneration of the crimes he committed as an adult. 对罪犯悲惨的童年表示怜悯不等于可以免除他长大成人后所犯的罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Exoneration or rehabilitation should be made known as widely as were the original wrong decisions. 原来在什么范围内弄错的，也应该在什么范围内宣布平反。 来自互联网

8 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

9 exonerated   

v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police report exonerated Lewis from all charges of corruption. 警方的报告免除了对刘易斯贪污的所有指控。
• An investigation exonerated the school from any blame. 一项调查证明该学校没有任何过失。 来自辞典例句

10 offender   

n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者

参考例句：

• They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。
• The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

11 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

12 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

13 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

14 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

15 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

16 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

17 testimonies   

（法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据

参考例句：

• Davie poured forth his eloquence upon the controversies and testimonies of the day. 戴维向他滔滔不绝地谈那些当时有争论的问题和上帝的箴言。
• Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. 22求你除掉我所受的羞辱和藐视，因我遵守你的法度。