Seniors in Bestsellers read “The Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King, a story of a man falsely convicted of murder. Because students expressed interest in hearing from an exoneree, Bestsellers teacher Mr. Boldwyn invited Angel Gonzalez to speak about his experience on September 20th, 2017.

In 1994 Angel Gonzalez was convicted of kidnapping and rape which he did not commit. It was not until 2015 that further testing of DNA evidence confirming his innocence allowed his conviction to be vacated, according to the Innocence Project which took on his case in 2013.

Students listened to Gonzalez speak of his experience and the reality of the judicial system and prison life. He did not speak much English at the time of his conviction if any at all. He was asked to write a confession statement in Spanish and was told that it would be translated to English for the rest of the court to read. However, when his statement was translated to English, it did not reflect his writing in Spanish.

Prior to the presentation, senior Madelyn Norstrom said that she was excited to hear from an exoneree firsthand but afterward she felt somewhat angry at the system because of how the language barrier affected Gonzalez’s trial.

When Gonzalez spoke to senior elective classes, he said “I am not against the system. We need the system… [but] sometimes the system doesn’t care. Money doesn’t make up for time and years.” He really focused on the reality of the system which also emphasized the brokenness of it all. He had four witnesses who could testify against the conviction but the people didn’t listen.

Senior Avery Sadowski said, “I realized that there is more than meets the eye and the system truly is broken. Every voice deserves to be heard.”

This amazing opportunity was meant to educate the students about the judicial system and connect to Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption. Hearing from Angel Gonzalez revealed the truth behind the system and how “you are the only one who can change it.”