Innocence Blog

Tomorrow on Tom Joyner: My Dad Was Exonerated

Posted: November 16, 2009 5:35 pm

La’Keisha Butts, the daughter of Louisiana exoneree Rickie Johnson, will join the Tom Joyner radio show Tuesday morning to discuss the issues surrounding wrongful conviction and the experience of seeing her father freed after decades of wrongful conviction.

Tune in online here at 9 a.m. EST Tuesday to hear Jacque Reid interview Butts for the “Inside Her Story” segment.

Johnson served 25 years in Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary for a rape he didn’t commit before DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project set him free. This year on Father’s Day, La’Keisha wrote to Innocence Project email subscribers about her dad:

My father is my hero and an inspiration to so many people he met over the years. Not only did he survive a quarter-century in prison, he did it with a positive outlook on life. When he would tell me years ago that he was sure he’d be free someday, I would admire his optimism but take it with a grain of my own realism, knowing the odds were against him. Now I know that the truth can overcome the odds any time. Whenever I feel down about anything, I think about my dad’s strength and his triumph.