Seth Penalver dropped to the floor and wept into his chair when a Florida jury declared him not guilty in the shooting deaths of three people during a 1994 home invasion.
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| Seth Penalver |
After 3 trials and 18 years in prison - including 13 on death row - a Broward County jury in 2012 found Penalver not guilty of capital murder in the 1994 slayings of Casmir Sucharski, 48, Marie Rogers, 25, and Sharon Anderson, 25.
Little did he know about the struggles that lay ahead. His release from prison marked a new chapter, one that's been filled with ups and downs, given his prolonged absence from society. Despite his acquittal, he says he struggles to find work because of his background, which includes 2 prior nonviolent felonies.
"You Google my name and it lights up the screen. I'm 20 years minus a resume, so it's hard," he said.
Experts say Penalver's struggles with reintegration are typical for death row exonerees or people found to be wrongly convicted. On paper, they're no longer offenders, but they're not quite free of the stigma or psychological impact of their incarceration. The duration of their incarceration can strain personal relationships, creating a void in support systems after their release. Additionally, they often lack access to the same career or counseling services available to parolees because technically, they're not on parole.
"The media attention tends to focus on how people got wrongly convicted, what in the system led to these cases, and those are important stories worthy of attention," said University of North Carolina at Greensboro professor Saundra Westervelt, author of "Life After Death Row: Exonerees' Search for Community and Identity."
"But the story doesn't end there. There's a slew of practical problems they have to figure out how to manage."
The state could help improve prospects for exonerees by providing monetary compensation and reintegration services, said Westervelt, a board member of Witness to Innocence, which works to abolish the death penalty and provide support to former death row inmates.
Only 30 states have laws that provide monetary compensation to wrongly convicted people, which can include death row exonerees. And in many states, including Florida, they come with limits. In some states, access to monetary compensation is available only for people exonerated by DNA evidence, who receive an official gubernatorial pardon or who don't have prior felonies.
>>>Read the full story
Little did he know about the struggles that lay ahead. His release from prison marked a new chapter, one that's been filled with ups and downs, given his prolonged absence from society. Despite his acquittal, he says he struggles to find work because of his background, which includes 2 prior nonviolent felonies.
"You Google my name and it lights up the screen. I'm 20 years minus a resume, so it's hard," he said.
Experts say Penalver's struggles with reintegration are typical for death row exonerees or people found to be wrongly convicted. On paper, they're no longer offenders, but they're not quite free of the stigma or psychological impact of their incarceration. The duration of their incarceration can strain personal relationships, creating a void in support systems after their release. Additionally, they often lack access to the same career or counseling services available to parolees because technically, they're not on parole.
"The media attention tends to focus on how people got wrongly convicted, what in the system led to these cases, and those are important stories worthy of attention," said University of North Carolina at Greensboro professor Saundra Westervelt, author of "Life After Death Row: Exonerees' Search for Community and Identity."
"But the story doesn't end there. There's a slew of practical problems they have to figure out how to manage."
The state could help improve prospects for exonerees by providing monetary compensation and reintegration services, said Westervelt, a board member of Witness to Innocence, which works to abolish the death penalty and provide support to former death row inmates.
Only 30 states have laws that provide monetary compensation to wrongly convicted people, which can include death row exonerees. And in many states, including Florida, they come with limits. In some states, access to monetary compensation is available only for people exonerated by DNA evidence, who receive an official gubernatorial pardon or who don't have prior felonies.
>>>Read the full story
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