Free At Last

After spending seven years in prison falsely accused of an armed robbery, the charges against Erick Daniels were dropped and he was free to go home for the first time since eighth grade. Former Independent reporter Mosi Secret published a powerful investigative piece about Erick's case in May of 2007. I photographed many players in the story and created multimedia slideshow from a visit with Erick in prison. When the story was published we were expecting a public outcry for his release, but the recation was more mixed - in fact, many of the comments about the story were thinly vieled racists remarks about Erick and the enevitable trouble raised by young black males in America. News & Observer columnist Barry Saunders responded directly to these remarks with an excellent set of columns worth reading. There's no doubt Erick has a mountain of challenges before him, but for a man who has been bound and shackled for seven years, the sudden ability to choose his destiny must provide a sense of freedom that we will never know.