Richard Miles was accused of murder at 19. He spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

It was an early May morning in 1994 when police stopped Richard Miles on the street and fasted handcuffs around his wrists. 

The 19-year-old, who was wearing a white tank top and a floppy hat, had been walking home after seeing a friend in Dallas, Texas.

"Put your hands up and get on the ground!" a voice shouted over the police car intercom. "Where's the gun?" 

Miles didn't know it at the time, but he fit the description of a man who had shot two men at a petrol station in Dallas earlier that morning. 

The murderer, who was wearing dark shorts, a white tank top and a floppy hat, had approached the two men in a car at the petrol station and shot them with a nine-millimetre pistol.

One of the men was killed. The other survived but was severely injured. 

At the time, a witness who was waiting in line at the petrol station saw a man running with a gun in his right hand before fleeing in a white Cadillac, according to The National Registry of Exonerations. 

The witness later identified that man as Miles. 

Despite the fact that several other witnesses could not identify Miles from photos, Miles was charged with murder and attempted murder. 

Image: CNN. 

During the trial, the defence tried to prove Miles' innocence, pointing out that the 19-year-old was left-handed while the shooter was right-handed. 

They also claimed that residue found on Miles' hands was not from a gun but rather from matches because he smoked. 

A friend also testified that he has been watching TV with Miles the night of the murder and later dropped him off to walk the rest of the way home before he was arrested. 

Despite the evidence, Miles was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years behind bars, robbing him of the remainder of his youth.  

"I oftentimes say, 'May 15, 1994 is the day that Richard Ray Miles, Jr. died.' I became a number – 728716," Miles later told CNN.

Speaking to Mamamia's daily news podcast, The Quicky, Miles said anger, was one of the emotional stages he and other people who are wrongfully incarcerated experience.

"You begin this cycle of systematic living, anger creeps in, you're upset with the attorneys, you're upset with the prosecutor... And obviously, resentment, to a point where you're looking at your life, and you ask yourself, what is the value? What is the purpose?

"It takes a person a higher level of connectivity to understand what you're physically going through isn't the end."

Determined to prove his innocence, Miles filed an appeal but it was later denied.

Listen to Richard Miles' full interview on The Quicky. Post continues below. 

During his time in prison, Miles leant on his faith and his family to get him through. 

"My mum would always tell me, 'When you look out the window, don’t look at the bars, look at the sky.' It’s all about perception, you know. You might be in a situation that can’t change, but can you change in the situation?" he told CNN. 

In 2007, Centurion Ministries, an organisation which works to exonerate individuals who have been wrongly convicted, took up Miles' case.

"I was very optimistic about getting out," Miles told The Quicky. 

"But at the same time, I revisited those areas of fear that I was introduced to when I went into the prison system, because now, unconsciously, I had became institutionalised, living in a vacuum and abiding by the rules."

During their investigation, Centurion Ministries discovered that two people had previously called police to implicate two other men in the shooting. However, this evidence was kept from the defence during the trial. 

Centurion Ministries also had the residue found on Miles' hand re-examined. They discovered the evidence was inconclusive and the findings were over-stated at trial, according to Human Rights Dallas. 

Miles was eventually released from prison on October 10, 2009, after spending 15 years locked up. 

The eyewitness who implicated Miles later recanted his testimony the following year. 

But while Miles was no longer behind bars, the then-34-year-old didn't feel fully free.  

"Everything was a blur to me... I really couldn't enjoy where I was at because I was so traumatised from where I came from. And so while I put on this face of joy and excitement, because I was finally released, I knew I wasn't fully free, because it will take another two and a half years for them to fully exonerate me."

Life outside of prison also came with its own challenges. Miles hard to learn how to reconnect with his family and the world around him. 

"[When it came to] engaging with my mum and my brothers, I recognised them, but them coming to see me an hour every other month [in prison] didn't give me the opportunity to know them."

"[And] learning technology... when I went to prison, there were no iPhones and now there's iPhones everywhere."

He also had to learn how to interact with society and women again. 

"One of the most important tools that a person returning home from prison, innocent or guilty, needs to acknowledge and accept the fact that we are now handicapped because we don't have all the tools to effectively engage and interact with society."

Eventually he met his wife, Latoya, whom he later married in 2013. 

"When I met the young lady that was supposed to be my wife, I had no type of conversation for her," he explained. 

"A lot of times, my wife would ask me, 'Richard, where do you want to go today? What do you want to do today?' And because I hadn't experienced anything, my common answer would be whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go."

Richard Miles today. Image: Supplied.

Almost 14 years on from his release, Richard now helps others through his nonprofit Miles of Freedom, which supports former offenders transition from prison to a productive life in the community. 

He says the biggest barriers for former offenders, regardless if they are innocent or guilty, is themselves. 

"When you're returning home, you have to challenge and push yourself. When you're released, doors open up and your success is going to be dependent upon how you deal with whatever you did not deal with while you were incarcerated." 

"If you do not understand who you truly are and how this system has changed you, then your potential of being successful is cut in half."

Feature Image: CNN.

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