Innocence Blog

Virginia Exoneree Credits Faith in a Speech at Baptist Church

Posted: August 22, 2012 2:00 pm

Thomas Haynesworth spent nearly three decades in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of a series of Richmond-area sexual assaults that occurred in the 1980s and credits his faith with helping him get through the ordeal, reported The Progress-Index.
 
Haynesworth was declared innocent by the Virginia Court of Appeals in December 2011 and was released from prison on his 46th birthday. On Tuesday, he spoke about his discipline and faith at the second annual Community Re-entry Forum held at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia.

“I was in prison for 27 years, and I never got into a fight,” he said. “I always kept myself in a respectful way.” Haynesworth said that instead of unleashing his frustration and anger unto others, he tried to turn it into positive energy.
 
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Today, Haynesworth does not harbor any hard feelings against those who wrongly convicted him. “Sometimes I look back at what could have been, but I don’t worry about that anymore,” he said. “I just go forward with my life and I trust God.”

The re-entry forum, sponsored by the Petersburg Sheriff’s Office, seeks to help prisoners transition to society by educating them on the available resources in the community.
 
Read the full article. Watch a video segment from the speech.  Read more about Haynesworth’s case.
 
Read about the Innocence Project Exoneree Speakers’ Bureau

Tags: Virginia, Thomas Haynesworth