My name is Edwin Chandler. I was born and raised in Louis, Kentucky. In 1993, I was arrested and charged with a capital murder and robbery in the first degree.
Thereafter, the state of Kentucky sought the death penalty in my case. This was a very, very shock for me and others around because I knew that I hadn't done anything and everybody knew that I hadn't done anything.
But the light that the media puts you in sometimes is really not good.
So going into this, I was extremely terrified, mortally terrified because I didn't know what the rest of my life would hold now.
After my arrest, for several months, it took a while for even my attorneys to believe in the fact that I was telling them that I was innocent.
So the decision was either to sink a swim. It was either to just give up right then or to fight.
So I chose to fight. And that's what I've been doing since 1993. When you get close to God, He allows you to stand up in the face of adversity.
And that's what I did. And in 1995, I was convicted of robbery one and manslaughter two.
To me at the time, it was another big blow, another storm over my head. But inside that, I had some relief, though, because they didn't kill me.
So after I was convicted, Martha went by and I did, they gave me a sentencing hearing.
So this told me how much time I was going to do for these charges that I was convicted of.
The total amount of time that I was given is 32 years. I was given 20 years for robbery one. I was given 10 years for manslaughter two. And I was given two years for an escape in the second degree.
I guess, middle-way through my incarceration, some things started happening in my case because my attorney had filed an appeal.
And through that appeal process, my attorney that the state awarded me really, really started to take notice of some things.
And in that, it was like somebody really started to care about me. And that gave me a really, really good sense there.
You know what? This might not be all that you got for your life. I think I've got some other things going on.
And I went to a parole hearing in 2000. And my attorney came to my parole hearing. And you know,
it just, it may be so happy because out of all the people that I knew, this little lady who was fighting for me showed up for me.
And she showed up for that parole board so much that they shut the blinds on her because she was just adamant in the fact of letting them know that you have an innocent man.
So, I was deferred two years in 2000. And the reason that I was deferred was to go to another facility, excuse me, to build this multi-complex educational center.
And I really didn't want to do that. I really wanted to go home. But I figured I had done right at seven years, two more years, and a few months wouldn't hurt me.
And another shot of getting out and going home. So, that's what I did. I went and built that multi-complex center. And I went back to the parole board and they released me.
I guess six months before I went to see the parole board that second time, I had submitted an application. I submitted an application to the Kentucky Innocence Project.
And it was a rather lengthy application. And I thought to myself, I need to start giving myself as many chances as I possibly can.
Because I've done everything that I've needed to do as an inmate. And now it's half of me to do everything I can do to be a productive citizen.
It's very difficult to talk about all of this. But I know that whoever sees this will probably gain something from it, being that I had served almost 17 years in the prison system.
I've been out since 2002. Almost 10 years now. I still really haven't gotten all of my life back in. And I thank God for everything that He's given me today, truly.
Because I could have been dead a long time ago. And it's kind of funny to me sometimes when I am by myself. And I can sit and think and wonder what if.
Things happen to happen the way that they did. I did prison time in Eddie Field, maximum security penitentiary. Not long. But I did enough. I seen death row.
I see death row inmates. And it has a profound effect on you to know that these men are.
They have like no outlet. I don't even know if it's really what I want to say. But they have no outlet.
You can only think about your life. And I know that sometimes people do things in life that are bad things. But it's not right for me to make a decision to take someone's life.
It's not right for me to choose that. And I don't feel like it's right for the state or the government to choose that.
Because my choice is no. And if they ask me. And if my word was it, then it would be no. Because I've been there, you know, I face that.
And in facing that is like the end of the road. You know, when you can know for yourself that. Okay, my life will be over. It's going to be over anyway.
But I would rather than my life ended in God's hands. Not in man's hands. Not in a government's hands.
That's not I don't think that's what God intended for us as people really.
In 2009, the Innocence Project worked a great miracle with their diligence and their stand-up attitude for the last fortunate in the week.
They gave me my life back. In October 2009, I was exonerated of murder and robbery charges.
And it was like I lost like I had was a hotter balloon than I had lost on my own. But it was the greatest feeling in the world to know that throughout all I had done, all I had been through, the truth shared through.
When Marguerite Thomas told me that I was going to be exonerated, there was a little police detective who worked this new case.
And I called him a super cop. Just because I feel like that he took the initiative over others who had the opportunity to make a difference in someone else's life.
I am so grateful for these people who have helped me. They have given me my life back and I don't know how to thank them for it.
I can only imagine how they feel in this. I can see how they feel. When I talk to them, I can hear how they feel.
This is not something that happens every day. This is a miracle in my life. You know, a true miracle.
Because I was allowed to be vindicated. I was given back my citizenship. I have been given a new start in life.
Every day that I wake up now is a brand new day for me. It fuels me for the next day. It keeps me going now.
The simple things in life I really enjoy most. This exoneration has been just tremendous in my life. I can't think these people enough. I really can't.
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