Perilous World Radio 07/20/22

Alan welcomes special guest Nick Yarris, who spent 22 years in prison on DEATH ROW for a crime he did not commit.  Born in Philadelphia, he describes his childhood as being challenging.   At the age of 7 he was sexually assaulted and then terrorized by the same man for years after.  Having to keep this bottled up, he developed a vulgar veneer, he became a bully, a drunk, and eventually a drug addict.  Nick explains that being sent to prison saved his life.  All his friends and his two brothers died being out in the “world”.  If he were to have stayed a free man, he feels he would also be dead.  From the age of 20 to 42, he spent 99.9% of his time in solitary confinement.  Through reading over 9,400 books it allowed his mind to take him to a whole other plane of existence.  He says, “I was confined in a cell, but not in prison.” Nick is an American writer and authored several books including the one discussed today, “7 Days to Live: This is My Story.”

“Monsters and Madmen” is another chronicle of his life.  Through torture and beatings, he received in prison, Nick had to learn to forgive those who were cruel and trespassed on him as well as learn how to love himself.  Nick explains that there is an appreciation factor when you’ve learned to love yourself.  He understood what it felt to be nothing.  There was a moment where Nick decided that he wanted to be executed, he says it was so he could put an end to the suffering and also be able to eloquently describe who he really is to those who cared nothing for him. But God had a different plan for Nick.

Thanks to new DNA technology that came about in the 80’s, Nick Yarris was found to be innocent and excluded from all biological material connected with the crime.  Based on DNA results, the court vacated Yarris’s conviction and he became the 140th person in the United States to be exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing - the 13th DNA exoneration from death row. Alan and Nick discuss all the above and Nick’s life after prison.