Wrongly locked behind prison bars, Amanda Knox found a way to escape her circumstances by lifting her voice and singing.
Knox, one of the world’s most famous wrongly convicted individuals, will be performing Oct. 15 in Sangamon County with the Exoneree Band to raise money for the Illinois Innocence Project.
The endeavor covers two of her greatest passions: advocating for the wrongly imprisoned and music.
“I’ve always been a big fan of music. I was in musicals and choir growing up and then in prison I was really close friends with the prison chaplain. Even though I’m not a religious person, we connected … the wonderful thing we did was we played music together. He invited me to play guitar for the religious services and then taught me keyboard. The last day that I was in prison, I spent the entire day waiting for the verdict playing music with my friend,” Knox told Illinois Times.
The Exoneree Band is unlike any other. It is composed entirely of men who have been wrongly convicted of crimes and later proven their innocence.
“I am more the honorary sidekick of the Exoneree Band,” Knox said. “The Exoneree Band is wonderful, and they are incredibly talented.” She periodically does vocals for the group.
Knox spent almost four years in an Italian prison following her wrongful conviction for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a fellow exchange student with whom she shared an apartment in Perugia. In 2015, Knox was definitively acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation.
When she was locked up at age 20, she had never contemplated that innocent people are sometimes sent to prisons.
She added that the public is more aware of wrongful convictions today because of the work of various innocence organizations and technology such as DNA testing that can sometimes definitively prove innocence.
“I can’t tell you the number of times that I just talk to people and say, ‘The issue of who gets convicted and who doesn’t is way more complicated than you think, and it has way less to do with the facts of a person’s guilt or innocence.’ So much more has to do with resources and bias and all of the human flaws that come into the equation.”
That’s a reality far too real to the five men who make up the Exoneree Band. The band formed in 2011 at an innocence conference – almost by happenstance.
William Dillon, who plays guitar for the band, served 27 years in a maximum-security prison in Florida for a murder he did not commit. DNA evidence conclusively proved his innocence.
“They had a talent show in Cincinnati, and it was awesome,” Dillon said. “They pulled all these people together for talent, and the guys were doing different songs on the guitars. We decided, ‘You know what? Let’s just play each other’s songs and back each other up.'”
The group is committed to helping raise awareness and money for innocence organizations around the nation.
“What kept me going in prison was my innocence,” Dillon said. “But even that sometimes didn’t even hold me above water. I knew I was innocent, but I didn’t want to die and end up in the graveyard and have people saying at my grave that I had killed someone.”
Like Knox, music helped sustain him.
“I got involved in music in prison. I had always been able to sing a little bit, and I guess I just wanted to play guitar. So, I wanted to learn how to play. I had gotten a job at the rec center working with the guitars and just started playing and practicing. It was something that really gave me a free space in prison. It’s quite the mood bender.”
The story of music and freedom is much the same for Raymond Towler who was wrongly imprisoned in Ohio for 30 years for the rape of an 11-year-old girl. DNA testing later proved his innocence.
“I play the guitar. And just from being around the stuff I’ve picked up a little keyboard, drums and that kind of stuff.”
He said time does not seem to pass the same way in prison.
“If you’ve done five to six years, you feel the same as if you’ve done 50. In your soul, it kind of wears you down and you lose that free thought. Just like when I first got home, it was tough for me to walk outside by myself or just open the door.”
The band hopes its performance Oct. 15 at Danenberger Family Vineyards near New Berlin will help open doors for other wrongly convicted individuals. The event is from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. Tickets are $100, and those interested in attending can register at: go.uis.edu/doi2022.
Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.
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