NEED TO KNOW
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Nick Yarris spent more than two decades on death row before DNA testing proved his innocence in 2003.
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His story became the basis for a documentary film. «Fear of Turning 13» and the Tony Award-nominated stage production starring Adrien Brody.
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Yarris now lives in Los Angeles.
On January 16, 2004, Nick Yarris made history by becoming the first person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death and exonerated based on DNA evidence.
In December 1981, Yarris was arrested for the attempted murder of a police officer. Hoping for a more lenient sentence, Yarris lied, claiming to know the identity of 32-year-old Linda Mae Craig's killer. However, he soon found himself at the center of the case and was ultimately convicted of the woman's rape, murder, and kidnapping. Yarris was sentenced to death and spent more than two decades on death row.
However, Yarris continued to fight for his freedom, advocating for DNA testing for years. His innocence was eventually proven in 2003, and he was released in 2004.
Since his acquittal, Yarris has publicly told his story in press interviews, books, and a 2015 documentary. «Fear of the 13th» , which was adapted into a stage production of the same name, starring Adrien Brody as Yarris and Tessa Thompson as his wife. The play was recently nominated for two Tony Awards.
Here's everything you need to know about Nick Yarris' case and where he is now.
Nick Yarris lied about the murder in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
Nick Yarris in the documentary "After Innocence." Photo: American Film Foundation/Kobal/Shutterstock
In December 1981, 20-year-old Yarris was stopped for running a red light and a stop sign, according to the documentary «Fear of 13» . Yarris, who was high on methamphetamine, got into a fight with a police officer, which resulted in a shot being fired, and he was arrested on charges of attempted murder of a police officer, reports The Guardian .
While in prison, Yarris saw a news report about Craig, a local woman who had been kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Trying to secure a lighter sentence in exchange for his cooperation, Yarris gave police the name of an acquaintance he believed had just died of an overdose.
«"I was desperate, a drug-addicted teenager who didn't know how to get out of prison," he told the BBC in November 2016.
However, the man was alive and had an alibi. As reported The Guardian , Yarris was later charged with the rape and murder of Craig.
Yarris was acquitted of attempted murder of a police officer in April 1982.
He was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 1982.
Nick Yarris with his mother on the day of his release from prison, January 16, 2004. Photo: Nick Yarris/Instagram
In July 1982, Yarris was found guilty of the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Craig. According to The Guardian , the prosecution showed jurors a photograph of a pair of gloves found in the victim's car, arguing that Yarris' fingerprints were not found at the crime scene because he was wearing those gloves.
According to the Innocence Project, Yarris was later sentenced to death.
According to the documentary «Fear of 13» , he was placed in a Pennsylvania prison where prisoners were isolated and warned that if they spoke or made noise, guards would beat them.
«"I was thrown into this world where there is no sunlight," Yarris says in the documentary. . — It's dead silent here.".
Yarris spent years on death row.
Nick Yarris in 2019. Photo: Tibrina Hobson/Getty.
When Yarris entered prison, his reading skills were at an eighth-grade level, he said in the documentary. «Fear of 13» . «But thanks to patience and the availability of free time, I began to work on these books,» he continued.
Yarris said it was in solitary confinement that he read thousands of books. He also began expanding his vocabulary by choosing a word from a dictionary, writing it down 10 times, and then composing 10 sentences with that word.
«"Robert suffers from triskaidekaphobia. Robert is afraid of the number 13. Robert doesn't understand that 13 is just an illusion that can't harm him," Yarris said in the documentary. "And I just talked to myself until I figured it out.".
«"Reading changed everything for me," he said.
While in prison, Yarris married prison volunteer Jackie Shaffer, who worked for the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty. However, they divorced 10 years later.
In 1989, Yarris became one of the first Pennsylvania death row inmates to request DNA testing after his sentencing. According to the documentary, it took five years for the initial DNA results to be available, and they proved inconclusive due to DNA degradation.
According to the Innocence Project, successive rounds of DNA testing throughout the 1990s yielded inconclusive results. According to the BBC, a package containing his DNA samples once burst on its way to the lab, destroying the evidence.
In 2003, Yarris' innocence was proven.
Nick Yarris at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2005, in Park City, Utah. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty.
A series of incidents, including Yarris contracting hepatitis during a dentist visit, his divorce, the rupture of a DNA sample package, and his near-fatal food poisoning, drove Yarris to suicidal thoughts.
«The day I was discharged from the hospital, I had nothing left,» he said. The Guardian . "While I was sitting there, I got some mail, and it was a letter from my lawyer saying that for the fifth time in a row, the DNA test results had been inconclusive.".
In 2003, Yarris wrote a letter to Federal District Judge James Giles, who was hearing appeals in his case, asking Giles to remove his lawyer because he wanted to be executed within the next 60 days.
Michael Wiseman, Yarris's lawyer at the time, told Yarris that Giles was perplexed why Yarris was reluctant to push for additional DNA testing, despite having advocated for it for years. Giles subsequently sent the final sample to Dr. Edward Blake, a DNA expert and forensic serologist who worked on the O.J. Simpson double-murder case in 1994.
On July 2, 2003, Wiseman called Yarris and informed him that the gloves found in the victim's car contained DNA from an unknown man, DNA from Craig, and DNA matching the killer's gloves.
«"You didn't have to explain to Nick Yarris what those results meant, I just started screaming," Yarris said in in the film "Fear 13". «"I cried more than you can imagine. I waited 15 years to cry.".
Yarris was eventually released on January 16, 2004.
Yarris's story has been made into a film and is now being staged.
«"Terror of Turning 13." Photo: Emilio Madrid.
After his release from prison, Yarris wrote three books about his experiences, including «"Monsters and Madmen: The Death Row Experiment"» , «Seven Days to Death» и «"Fear of 13: Countdown to Execution: My Fight for Survival on Death Row"» .
Yarris also told his story in a documentary «Fear of 13» , which premiered in 2015. It was later adapted into a theatrical production, directed by Lindsay Ferrentino and starring Brody and Thompson.
«"In the documentary, Nick Yarris just sits in a chair and tells his life story," Ferrentino told the New York Theatre Guide. "I thought it was theatrical. He's such a theatrical storyteller, and his life was incredible, so much so that truth is stranger than fiction. I thought it would be great material for the stage.".
After filming the documentary, Ferrentino developed a friendship and trust with Yarris, who is credited as a consultant on the Broadway musical's script.
«"He's a wonderful storyteller," said Brodie, who debuted as Yarris in the West End production in 2024. "This play is very much about the ability to transport ourselves to other horrific environments and circumstances through stories.".
Where is Nick Yarris now?
Nick Yarris attends the after-party for "Fear 13" at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre on October 10, 2024, in London, England. Photo: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty
According to the documentary «Fear of 13» , Yarris moved to England in 2005, where he married and had a daughter the following year. He has since divorced, and in an April 2026 Instagram post, he stated that he hadn't seen or spoken to his daughter since 2013.
As reported The Guardian newspaper In 2024, Yarris lives in a campervan in Los Angeles.
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Read the original article on People.