Boston’s James Watson spent decades behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit.
Wrongful convictions
At least 93 people have been exonerated in Massachusetts since 1990, according to The National Registry of Exonerations. And Watson now dedicates his time and resources to helping those who are wrongfully convicted.
“Freedom is so precious. I didn’t know how precious freedom was until it was taken from me,” said Watson.
41 years in prison
Watson spent 41 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. At just 20 years old, he was one of two men wrongfully convicted for the murder of Boston cab driver, Jeffrey Boyajian, in November 1979. Fredrick Clay was the second man wrongfully convicted. Clay was just 16 years old when he was accused of the crime and was exonerated in 2017.
“It’s really kind of hard to explain because I had never experienced this before. Someone knocking on your door saying, ‘I’m going to arrest you for murder,'” Watson said.
Life in prison
Watson was sentenced to life without parole. He was originally given the death penalty, but it was abolished in Massachusetts in 1984.
Crucial information in this case came from a witness hypnotized by police. Another witness was also incentivized by police, with the opportunity to relocate out of the housing projects in Roslindale.
“What really hurt me the most is: Why would they do this? Why would they just pick me out when I was home, sleeping in my bed? You know? Just had a son -13 months – he was 13 months old. My only son on this planet,” Watson said.
Watson lost cousins, an uncle, mother, grandmother and aunt while he was behind bars. He said that was a turning point when he decided he wouldn’t give up trying to prove his innocence.
The loss of his sister hit him particularly hard. He wiped tears from his eyes when he began to speak about her, reflecting on all of the time that was taken away from him, time that could have been spent with her.
“I felt like – I gotta out of here, and there’s going to be nobody [left] but me,” said Watson.
A way out of prison
That fear drove him to spend many hours in the prison’s law library.
“I went there so much, I fell asleep in the law library!” he said.
Watson says he was encouraged to reach out to The New England Innocence Project.
Work by the organization proved his innocence and ultimately led to his release. The victim’s brother and sister-in-law sent a letter to the court in support of his release.
“We can’t give Fred and James back the 40 years … roughly, they each lost, that were stolen from them by their wrongful convictions. We can’t get Jerry’s brother back. The very least we can do – it seems – like writing a letter, how could we not?” Katrina Boyajian said.
Confronting Injustice
Motivated by his second chance at life, Watson and his fiancé Linda Solomon created the non-profit Confronting Injustice to support people who have been exonerated and negatively impacted by judicial injustice.
“It’s not just about people who spend time in jail; there’s a lot of collateral damage that happens, and no one seems to want to talk about that. So, Confronting Injustice is about naming those things because we can’t address it if we don’t even name it,” Solomon said.
Right now, Confronting Injustice has a YouTube channel, a newly launched podcast, and they’re now working on putting a website together.
Watson and Solomon are already seeing the positive impact of Confronting Injustice on three other men who were also wrongfully convicted.
“James was such an inspiration”
Joseph Pope, Albert Brown, and Robert Aldrich served as each other’s support system, all growing up in prison together. Each of them now also has their own organization as well.
“We’re all re-contributing back to the very community that we came from. We’re not just coming out here talking about it, we’re trying to be about it,” Aldrich said.
“James was such an inspiration, and he doesn’t know it, but he was an inspiration for us,” Brown said.
“I don’t even imagine Confronting Injustice not existing because of the experiences that we’ve had, because of the journey that we’ve taken together, and because of those we’ve left behind,” Pope said.
Watson says what happened to him can happen to anyone, and that’s what makes his work with Confronting Injustice so important. “This is a must. It’s going to take a lot of time – some sleepless nights, some long hours, but let’s do it,” Watson said.
Watson and Solomon told Cole their goal is to continue to build their Confronting Injustice team to include attorneys and to continue to educate people about post-incarceration syndrome.
