A detective told a 16-year-old "I'm your friend." Seven hours later the boy confessed to a murder he didn't commit. Jeffrey Deskovic spent the next 16 years in a maximum-security prison for it.

The DNA never matched him. The jury convicted him anyway.

This is not a true crime episode. It's the story of what a person does with the years that were taken from him. Jeff walked out of prison at 32 with no money, no driver's license, no idea how a cell phone worked, and a decision to make about whether to spend the rest of his life angry. He chose the other thing. Today he's an attorney, the founder of the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, and the reason 15 other wrongfully convicted people are free.

Angela asks him the questions a mother would ask: how a kid who had never been in trouble ends up in an interrogation room without his parents knowing, what it was like to be told "you're going home tomorrow" and not believe it, and what freedom feels like after sixteen years.

If you have a teenager, watch the segment at 4:00. Then send it to them.

SUPPORT JEFF'S WORK Jeff doesn't take a salary from the foundation. Every dollar goes to freeing people who are still inside. Patreon (monthly, $3 and up): https://www.patreon.com/Deskovic The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice: https://www.Deskovic.org Case intake (New York cases only): https://www.Deskovic.org

JEFF'S BOOK AND FILMS Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted (Jeff is a contributor): [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINK]

FOLLOW JEFF Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deskovicfoundation/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.deskovic/ Foundation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejeffreydeskovicfoundation YouTube: Deskovic Foundation

ABOUT JEFFREY DESKOVIC Jeffrey Deskovic, Esq., M.A., was wrongfully convicted of murder and rape in 1990 at age 16 in Peekskill, New York, after a coerced false confession. He was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2006 after 16 years in prison. He went on to earn a bachelor's, a master's, and a law degree, and founded the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice in 2011, which has freed 15 wrongfully convicted people and helped pass 9 laws. He sits on the Global Advisory Council of Restorative Justice International and the advisory board of It Could Happen To You, and is co-owner of the Recharge Beyond The Bars re-entry game.

ABOUT REAL LIFE REWRITTEN Real stories from people who were handed a life they didn't choose and rewrote it anyway. Hosted by Angela Renee. New episodes weekly.

🎵Music Credit - Jeremy Korpaswww.youtube.com/@JeremyKorpasIf this episode reached you, share it with one person who needs to hear that it's possible to come back from anything. Like and subscribe so we can keep bringing you stories like Jeff's.

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