My name is Richard Watson and I am serving time for second-degree murder a crime I did not commit. I am 29 years old and have served almost 9 years of the 28 to 60-year sentence I was given, and this is my story. On March 28th, 2012 I was asked to ride along with Micah Denson to a date he set up on the Interactive Male hotline. Micah asked me to come along as a security blanket because he felt uncomfortable meeting the date at their home alone. Although, I reluctantly agreed I decided to ride along with him. I did not want to go because I had been released from the hospital just a month before this incident occurred that February, from a medically induced coma/brain hemorrhaging caused by being hit by a car on December 24th, 2011. I still had minor hemorrhaging and was told to avoid any contact with my head to avoid more hospitalizations. While there I noticed things began to turn for the worst, during the incident because of my own injury I just froze. I told the police during their interrogation that I had nothing to do with the murder, the events leading up to the murder, or what even occurred after the murder but that I did witness the crime. I told them exactly what happened, how it happened, and they still made me a suspect and codefendant. I told them how Micah had him in a chokehold until he stopped moving. Micah admitted to robbing him and how he drained his credit cards and which ATMs he used after the event occurred. The forensic pathologist during the trial admitted on the record that only one person could have committed this crime however I was still charged as a codefendant. During my trial, I had a court-appointed defense attorney, Gerald Karafa. My Attorney never discussed the trial strategy with me, he would discourage me from using the jail law library and even yelled at me for calling him to the jail to discuss what I found as it related to my case and innocence.  I remember him saying that I should stop because he had people for that! From the beginning, his incompetence scared me, and I felt stuck with limited options for my life. I declared my innocence from the beginning and told everyone exactly what happened and that no one intended to kill anyone, to include my codefendant Micah. I had been attending the law library and had learned the main element needed to be convicted of murder is intent. It is the only thing that separates manslaughter and murder. During my trial, both the prosecutor and the judge admitted on the record that they did not believe either of us went to the home with the intent to kill but somehow maybe accidentally someone ended up dead. At that time, I remained silent and felt helpless I had given them everything they needed in my witness statement to convict me even though I had no prior knowledge of anything and did not commit the murder. My mere presence in their eyes made me guilty and as a young African American male with inadequate legal representation I was bounded over to the circuit court for first-degree murder and charged as a co-felon instead of a witness. How is this justice? Even though they had no evidence against me other than my very own statement, I was charged and convicted. From the first time, I saw my court-appointed Attorney all Mr. Karafa talked about was a guilty plea. Mr. Karafa pressured me to pled guilty even after Micah had already pled guilty to the murder. Mr. Karafa told me if I did not plead guilty that I would spend the rest of my life in prison, so I did. I felt as if I had no other choice. However, still not wanting to accept defeat I continued to go to the law library and realized that he was wrong so I began to file my own motions with the court, to include the motion to withdraw my plea and replace my counsel. I sent him copies of every motion I began to file but he did not respond, nor did he help me. Mr. Karafa left me a poor black man with a 10th-grade education at the mercy of the court. Subsequently, all my motions were denied, and the rest is history. Since then I have not stopped advocating for my innocence. Just recently my codefendant after 8 years rode into the same facility that I am in, this was the first time after our sentence that we were able to see each other and have a dialogue. Out of that dialogue, Micah stated he wanted to apologize for everything and that the guilt was taking a toll on him. The next day Micah completed a signed notarized affidavit declaring that I had no prior knowledge of any criminal misconduct and that I got caught up in this situation unjustly when I was only asked to come along for the ride. Micah also stated that he was the one who committed the murder and would be willing to testify in court under oath to this admission. I have waited for this moment for over 9 years now and I just want an opportunity to be heard. I am a Husband, a Father, a Son, a Brother who is wanting my life, my freedom, and a chance to LIVE again. Since being incarcerated I have earned my GED, I work a full-time job picking up extra shifts whenever I can, and I recently was elected by my peers to be their Unit Representative.  Upon my release I plan to give back to the community by helping other wrongfully incarcerated individuals like my self-gain their freedom, I would like to reach out to the young people and become a youth mentor for at-risk-youth, and I plan on fathering my children being a loving husband and productive citizen. This is my story and I humbly ask that you help me gain my freedom.