One September night in 1990, Johnny Hincapie headed to Manhattan to party with his friends, unaware that the events of that night would change the course of his life forever. On Tuesday, January 25th, the Hackley community had the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Hincapie about his experience being wrongfully convicted for a robbery he had no part in. Students Charlotte Molinoff, Serina Fasciano, Theo Saujet, Meredith Greenburg, and Maren McCrossan hosted the community time as part of their American Law class taught by History teacher Michael Bass, who arranged the event.

Johnny Hincapie grew up in the borough of Queens in New York City where he practiced breakdancing and working at nightclubs as part of his wish to make it in the entertainment industry. In September of 1990, when he was 18 years old, Mr. Hincapie went to a nightclub in Manhattan along with many of his friends. While traveling to the club, Mr. Hincapie went down into the subway station, looking for his friend who was carrying his wallet. However, Mr. Hincapie never made it down to the platform because he was pushed away by a crowd of people going up the stairs. Unbeknownst to him, a crime was being committed in the subway station that would have dire consequences for his own life.

That night, Brian Watkins, a 22-year-old who was visiting New York City along with his family from Utah, was robbed and ultimately killed in the same subway station Mr. Hincapie was in. The next day, police showed up at his door and dragged him down to the police station where his mom was not allowed to accompany him because having just turned 18 he was considered legally an adult.

At the station, Mr. Hincapie was interrogated and beaten by Detective Carlos Gonzalez, the same detective in charge of the Central Park Five case, a notorious case in which five young, black boys were coerced into confessing to a crime they didn’t commit. Gonzalez threatened Mr. Hincapie, telling him he had to confess to the crime or he’d never go back home.

After hours of intense coercion, he ultimately relented and repeated the false story Gonzalez gave him and was later found guilty solely on the basis of that confession. Despite the fact that there were no witnesses, no DNA evidence, and no one testifying against him, other than the detectives, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Mr. Hincapie told students, “The media already convicted me before I went to trial”.

Prior to his trial, while being held in detention in Rikers Island jail, a huge facility holding tens of thousands of people, Mr. Hincapie faced consistent abuse from inmates and correctional officers alike due to the notoriety of his case. However, he was never complacent about the injustice he faced. While in prison, Mr. Hincapie wrote countless letters to universities, law firms, churches, anyone he could possibly think of. However, no one was willing to help him at the time. Nevertheless, he persisted by earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, becoming involved in theater, and working on his exoneration.

Senior Serina Fasciano said, “What I find most inspiring about Johnny’s story is the way he was able to make the best of his situation while in prison, his ability to accept and respect the trauma faced by the victim and his family despite having faced his own trauma, and his ability to share his story with people such as us in a composed and educational way”

Years later, Mr. Hincapie’s new attorney Bill Hughes in collaboration with Bob Dennison, the former Chairman of parole in New York, reopened his case in the hopes of freeing him. With new witnesses coming forward, the two were successful and Mr. Hincapie was finally exonerated in 2015 after 25 years in person.

Now Mr. Hincapie works as an actor, public speaker, and activist working to make a difference in freeing the innocent. He currently has two lawsuits pending against the city over the injustices he faced at the hands of the justice system.

At the end of the presentation, Mr. Hincapie urged Hackley students to work to make a positive change in this world as they move forward in life. He told students that if just one police officer stepped in, perhaps his life would’ve gone in a very different direction, and hopes that Hackley students will become the type of people that change the world for the better.