Terrill swift

In the beginning of the year my class was told that a man was going to be coming to our school who was wrongfully convicted and spent around 20 years in jail and he was going to give a presentation about his experience. I was so excited to be there for his presentation.  I walked in expecting to see a broken man who was going to talk about how much he hates the police and how awful his experience was. But I was wrong. The second I saw Terrill Swift my heart dropped. He was still young, he had these big gentle eyes that reminded me of my brother. He was so calm and composed. He didn’t say anything putting down the people who wrongfully convicted him. He didn’t even complain about his situation. I just wanted to go up there and bitch about the police for him. After everything he has been through he still has a sense of humor, he has goals, he wants a family and all he cares about is starting his new life and helping people avoid making the same mistake he did. He doesn’t even care if he gets money from the government for everything he was put through. He was just happy to be out of there. He is the strongest person I’ve ever met. I can’t even describe how powerful his presentation was. Even though his presentation was so calm he left me with provoking thoughts that had me thinking and talking about him all day. He had good grades, no criminal history and no involvement what so ever with the rape and murder he was convicted of and yet one small simple mistake took 17 years of his life and everything those 17 years included away from him. I thought that as long as I stayed out of trouble and away from the wrong crowd I would never have anything to worry about. But now I know how important it is to know my rights and to read the fine print. If I was interrogated for a long time by the police and they told me that if I wanted to leave and go home all I would have to do is a sign a piece of paper, I would not hesitate. I wouldn’t even spend time to skim the page looking for the line to sign my name on. I would just sign it. Knowing what happened to Terrill I’ll always read the fine print and make sure I know my rights and that my rights are upheld. I wish there was someone that could have talked to Terrill and told him all the things he just told my class so he would know his rights and wouldn’t have gone to jail for such a horrible crime he did not commit. He is such a good person and he deserves an incredible life full of happiness to make up for the past 17 years of hell he was put through.