Following the Truth

• Author: Jamie Hwang
• Pages: 11-11

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SARAH LIM PHOTO

Johnnie Lindsey, Christopher

Scott and Steven Phillips

are the focus of the PBS

documentary True Conviction.

Opening Statements

JULY 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 11

Following the Truth

Exonerated Texans help wrongfully convicted prisoners find freedom

CHRISTOPHER SCOTT SERVED 12 YEARS and

seven months in a Texas prison for a murder he didn’t

commit. Duri ng his time behind bars, Scott vowed if

he ever got out he would dedicate his life to helping

others in his position.

Scott was exonerated in 20 09, after the actual

perpetrator confes sed to the crime. Walking out of

prison gave Scott his f reedom, his family and the

chance to pursue his dr eam of assisting others who

are wrong fully convict ed.

“I was a brand-new baby again,” says Scot t, recounting

the day he became a free ma n. “Prison was an incubator.

I couldn’t breathe or focus on life in there. So when I

was freed, I ha d a big smile on my face knowing that

after this I c an make something good of my experience

and do something worthwhile.”

The idea to start a “detective a gency” that would

investigate claims of i nnocence came to Scott while

he was incarcerate d. In 2011—two years af ter his release

from the Coeld Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas—

Scott formed the House of Renewed Hope, a nonprofit

organization that inves tigates the cases of inmates who

say they’ve been wrongf ully accused, with the goa l of

exoneration.

Scott’s work caught the eye of filmma ker Jamie

Meltzer and became the focus of a new docu mentary,

True Conviction, airing on PBS’ Independent Lens.

Two other exonerees, Johnnie Lindsey and Steven

Phillips, who each ser ved more than 20 years in prison,

partnered wit h Scott at the House of Renewed Hope.

(Lindsey died earlier th is year.) Funded by donations,

the group receives hundreds of re quests for assistance

per week and works full t ime on at least four cases at

once.

The True Conviction documentary sh ares the stories

of the three exonerated men and follows them for five

years as they pursue t heir quest to free others. The film

focuses on two cas es they worked on, including the

conviction of Isaiah Hi ll, who was sentenced to life in

prison on aggravated a ssault charges after ref using a

plea bargain. With the help of Scot t’s group, Hill was

paroled in 2016.

According to Meltzer, it was necessa ry to follow Scott

and his partners for a few ye ars to build a dramatic

and compelling story a round the trio’s daily lives and

investigat ions.

“I was most struck by the la ck of bitterness and the

desire to turn thei r tragic experience into something

meaningfu l—that’s what the detective a gency repre-

sented,” says Meltzer, describing the first time he visit ed

Scott at a group therapy session for exonerees.

“Once I had that feeling sitt ing in that room, being

surprised by how positive t hey were and how passionate

they were about eecting change , that really inspired me

to go along for the ride to make this fi lm.”

—Jamie Hwang