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Chapter 1: What led to Evaristo Salas Jr.'s wrongful conviction?
And then you remember, your mind remembers what it felt like to be kind of in a community or to be in a neighborhood, to see cars, you know. I remember I used to say this all the time. Well, if they're going to have me in here for something I didn't do, then I might as well make it worth it. But that boy shouldn't be in jail. There's too many things to doubt on that case. It's too much.
She went and got the truck out without permission, had it washed, cleaned, whatever, and sold it the next day.
Hello and welcome back to One Minute Remaining. My name is Jack Lawrence, the host and creator of this show. This is the second installment of part six and the final part of my chat for now with Evaristo Salas Jr. The man convicted of murder at just 15, now in his 40s, with less than three years to go on a 30-year sentence. Jr. continues to fight to clear his name.
Of course, as we know, Junior is fighting to clear his name and get an early release. However, if that doesn't eventuate, he does have less than three years remaining on his sentence. Incarcerated at 15 years old, Junior has missed out on an incredible amount while he's been imprisoned. When he was convicted, the internet was only just starting to make its way into our homes.
There was no such thing as an iPhone. The iPod hadn't even been released. No social media, no emails, Skype, or podcasts. Junior will be coming out to a world that he's not used to. One day when he called, we spoke about his feelings about being back out in the real world.
You may start the conversation now.
Hey, buddy. Hey, how you doing, Jack? Good, man. How are you?
I'm good, I'm good.
How's your day been?
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Chapter 2: How does Junior feel about his long incarceration?
But other than that, I was all eyes, you know. And so it kind of alleviates that kind of anxiety that I was feeling prior to be given the opportunity to go out there. So like I said, if I was just to be released straight from like a medium custody where I was at for about seven years before I came out here, It would have been a shock to the system.
The opportunities that I'm getting now to be out there in the community, to work out there, and to see it, I think it's alleviating that anxiety. I don't feel it as much anymore. I've got to learn how to drive. I've never driven a car besides up and down. I drove it one time when my mom was too drunk to drive, and I had to drive her to her house, which was a town next to Sunnyside.
That's my level of experience when it comes to driving, is I have to learn how to drive. I have to get my identification, my driver's license, all those kind of things. That, I think, is going to be a little, it's going to test my, you know, my feelings just kind of integrating back into society.
But I get a little nervous about that, but I have confidence, you know, because like I said, I've been studying all these books. I've been trying to prepare my mind by trying to kind of visualize it, reading books,
um you know doing these re-entry classes that they had here or they had in the main when i was there and just trying everything i can so like even um i wish to do these fake scenarios of uh okay this is how much i paid for this month these are going to be my cost you know yeah and just going through all the most of what i'm going to need and you know how to build that that kind of stuff really kind of helps you know so
Junior is taking it upon himself to get ready for his eventual release and life back on the outside. Time and again with the men and women I speak with, they tell me how there is just no system in place to help prepare people for the outside. Prison is simply a warehouse to hold someone for a length of time deemed appropriate by the courts, and then they are sent packing back into society.
What happens... In many cases, it's those people end up right back where they were. Now, I know what a lot of people will be thinking listening to this. These are grown adults that need to take responsibilities for themselves and their actions. And if they want to change, they need to make the choice to do that for themselves. And to that, I wouldn't disagree.
But as Junior says, even for those people who want to do that, the prison in some ways stops them and won't allow them to better themselves or to take classes. So what then?
Well, that's kind of one of the beefs I have with prison is that they want you to, you know, to kind of reintegrate into society, to live as a responsible person. But then they take away all your responsibilities and they won't give them to you. They're like, OK, we want you to live this way. We want you to learn how to, you know, to go out into the world and provide for yourself. But guess what?
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Junior face adjusting to life after prison?
It's, you know, kids are just, you know, given books and stuff and said, oh, you know, learn this information. But they're not actually taught about life skills. And I suppose that's the same within prison. They don't teach you life skills. Okay, this is what you're going to need to learn.
set up a bank account and you know you and you know those bits and pieces those everyday things that a lot of people take for granted because they sort of just learn as they go i suppose and and you're just going to be dropped back into society and say all right junior off we go you know good luck with it and by the way you owe us this money you're going to pay us one way or another or potentially going back to prison or we're going to violate you or those kind of things it's almost a setup for failure it's like okay we don't want you here but when we when we make money off you some way so we're going to bring you back and that kind of stuff it's just it's just this weird kind of
Don't get me wrong, there's some people that don't care that prison is their life and that kind of stuff, but I'm definitely not one of them. This is the worst part about the Washington State prison system, and it may take place in other states. So they don't allow you to take any class that has to do with, let's say, college courses and those kind of things that the prison provides.
computer skills, all these really kind of important classes they have, like where they teach you how to, you know, machine, they have these classes in the main where they teach you how to machine parts. Unless you're under five years, you can't even get into those classes.
Yeah, it's the same in Florida as well, because another inmate has the same exact argument.
Yeah, it's horrible. So I've been in prison for going on 27 years now. That 25 years prior to that, even if I wanted to get in those classes, they would not let me. They didn't even care. They're like, oh, whatever. But what I did is I bugged the hell out of them for years. And just nonstop, every month, I sent them a guide or every few weeks.
And then I would ask my counselors, and I would get a good counselor, and then we would wiggle my way into those classes. I basically just said, I'm a juvenile. There's a possibility I'm going to get out because of all the laws that are changing. And I used that. My counselor helped me, and they allowed me in. I just kept pushing and pushing. And then what I couldn't get for them, I read books.
I got a book on how to build your credit. I got all these reentry books, like five or six of them, stories of people that got out, what to worry about. you know, how to budget, all these things I had to provide for myself because I had that anxiety. And I knew that, and look, I can, my dad, if I go home, my dad will give me a place.
He's offered me, he goes, I got a car for you, one that you can practice how to learn how to drive, and then one you can have. And I told him, I said, no, I appreciate it. But I got to do this on my own. You know, I got to learn how to live. You know, and he felt kind of bad about it. I said, look, how about this? I'll buy the car from you once I make enough money to do that.
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Chapter 4: What preparations is Junior making for his eventual release?
Of us going through. And so the course we'd like is them to vacate my conviction altogether. Then they dismiss the charges against me and I'd be released within a few days of that decision.
Just a waiting game.
And that's all it's kind of been. Once we had the evidence and we presented it to the judges, we had to go through the process, which is a two- to three-year-long process. And that's just the way the courts are set up. And especially if they fight you on it, then it gets just longer because they can drag their feet.
Chapter 5: How does the prison system impact rehabilitation?
There's all these little legal things that they can do to just drag it out. And that's what they've been doing. My fiancée, she sent me a thing where she wanted kind of to say, you know, have a little word in, you know, without kind of... Because she's kind of like really kind of private. Basically, she doesn't want the attention taken away from me. She just wants me on the video.
So if you don't mind, I could read it to you right now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'd love to, for sure.
So this is the words of my fiancée right here.
So...
More than four years ago, I saw the documentary of Evaristo Salas' case, and I recognized my son in many ways of the photos that I've seen. The scenario of the wrongful conviction, it really tugged at my soul. And the question came up, what if this was my son serving a life sentence for something he had nothing to do with?
In that time that I got to know Evaristo, this question started to play an increasingly important role in my life. The conclusion of this is that there must be some reason for such a severe sentence. After that, I had that pressing question. Who is responsible for this wrongful conviction? I've laid awake for hours, days, months, and years thinking about this question.
Is the officer, Sergeant Rivard, is he responsible for this? Was the jury misled during the trial? Was perhaps this judge, who would have given evidence of the death penalty if he could have, perhaps Evaristo's mother who didn't raise him the right way?
Or is it perhaps because Evaristo grew up with a working single father who could barely make ends meet or be there for his family as much as he really wanted to? Or was the case purely coincidental and Evaristo was just unlucky?
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