Has anyone ever escaped from prison and proved their innocence?

by poshboyj

It's something that's often on T.V and in movies but has anyone ever done it? If so, did they still get in trouble for escaping?

MustBeThursday

Coincidentally, just a couple of hours ago I listened to this episode of The Moth podcast, which features Marie Walsh (AKA Susan LeFevre) telling the story of being arrested for basically just being loosely associated with someone else who was wanted for drug charges. She plead guilty (to what is not stated specifically in her recounting of events) on the advice of her attorney/family member in order to get a plea bargain. The expectation was that she would get, at most, a year of probation. The judge, however, decided he wanted to make an example of her, and sentenced her to ten to twenty years in prison. And because she'd plead guilty, there was no way to appeal the decision. She went to prison.

She ended up successfully escaping her prison in Michigan, with the help of her grandfather, and lived in California under an assumed name for over thirty years. The authorities eventually tracked her down and arrested her again. She sat in jail for a year while awaiting a hearing. When she got her hearing it was found that there was no evidence with which to convict her of the original crime, so she was released shortly after that.

So, yes.

Edited to add: after some googling it appears she was charged with selling, or somehow being associated with selling, 2.5 grams of heroin to an undercover Michigan State Trooper.