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Forever Scared

Herman Atkins is still trying to pick up the pieces 10 years after he was freed from imprisonment on phoney rape charges

A A A Comments (7) By CHARLOTTE HSU Thursday, Aug 26 2010

...continued from page 5

He is always planning for the future. He wants to go to Australia, England and Africa. His dreams seem endless, but he is also practical—frugal, despite his wealth, because he knows that to realize his goals, his money needs to last. On a recent outing to run errands, he stopped at Burlington Coat Factory, where he picked out a $40 pair of shoes. He also introduced himself by name to the clerk at the counter. He stowed the receipt.

With time, Atkins has buried his dark side deeper within him. But those who know him recognize it. They know why he positions himself facing the exit at every restaurant, why he is always looking around and sizing people up, why he stockpiles receipts.

Brian Stauffer

Michael Villegas

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This February, Atkins and Machara were in Las Vegas on the 10th anniversary of his exoneration, the fourth anniversary of their wedding. They went to see a cover band who played songs from the ’70s and ’80s. And as they made their way through hotels and casinos, Atkins found comfort in the countless surveillance cameras hanging from the ceilings.

This article appeared in print as "Forever Scared: Ten years after his imprisonment on phony rape charges, Herman Atkins can’t shake what happened. His life is a never-ending search for an alibi."

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James 09/02/2010 8:30:00 PM

Considering the magnitude of a story like this---being falsely accused; having years of your life stripped from you; rebuilding your irreparably shattered life, and all the accompanying problems---and considering that the OC Weekly is a largely liberal-minded publication, I'm surprised that there aren't A LOT more comments from readers. I'm sure the Register would have garnered a lot more comments than what I see hear!!

Phil Osborn 08/29/2010 12:54:00 AM

I've spent three nights in jails, separately. Once, in 1974, for a illegal discharge of weapon charge - and I would do it again in the same circumstances, as it probably saved a life - that cost me a $50 fine and a court order to get out of town, once for an income tax protest in Long Beach in 1978, and once, in Hollywood, in 1979, for displaying a weapon in public after I had been mugged and chased by the muggers back to my camper. Both of those latter cases were dismissed. However, they cost me thousands of dollars in attorney's fees, probably cut a year off my life, due to stress, still linger on various computer databases, and my enemies spin them into lurid claims that I am a convicted child molester, or other villain. As bad as my experiences were, I can hardly imagine going through what Mr. Atkins has, and he has actually had a relatively easy time compared to many caught up in our aptly named "Criminal Law" system. I say "aptly named" because most of the law, particularly the part that deals with imprisonment as punishment, is purely and simply criminal. Yes, folks, the law itself is criminal and the people who enforce it are equally criminal. Do we need prisons? Clearly, for people who we know are a danger to others. That might include 10% to 25% of the inmate population. As for the others, the drug arrestees, the people who reacted stupidly in an emotional situation, the petty non-violent criminals, the innocents who were terrified and coerced into a plea, we are acting as criminals ourselves if we vote to turn our distaste for some of these people into trashing the rights they hold as human beings, which our legal system is supposed to be in the business of protecting and promoting. Sure, let's put the dangerous people somewhere that ensures they can't hurt us. But, even in those cases, what is the point of "punishment?" Has anyone - particularly a hardened criminal - EVER changed their value system because someone "punished" them? This is nothing more than a combination of revenge and alleged "deterrence," just like the collective punishments of American prisoners favored by the Japanese in WWII. We outlawed that for them. If someone is a criminal, then there are victims. Let him or her first work, in prison or not, toward putting the victims' lives back to where they were, whenever possible. Then, out of his prison earnings, let him hire expert counseling on how to turn his own life around so that some day he can return to normal society without posing a danger to us. In fact, though, look at the rate of recidivism. Our revenge against these people simply reinforces their desire to hurt us, regardless of the cost to them. And why shouldn't they hate us? What is the logical/moral connection between stealing a car and going to prison for 8 years or so? Are we GOD to be casting sinners into our brand of HELL? Our interest in this car thief is that personally, we don't want him to steal our car, and, more generally, that if he does steal a car, then he has to pay serious compensation to his victims. That's real justice, when equity has been preserved. If a criminal faces the 3-Strikes law, what are the chances that he will leave witnesses? In general, we do not need the kind of vindictive "piling on" that turns a simple crime into a life disaster and creates a really dangerous criminal where there was someone who could have turned their life around. I personally would prefer that a criminal did not have an overwhelming motive to leave me dead rather than a potential witness. http://philosborn.joeuser.com/article/372066/Police_Brutality

It happens everywhere 08/28/2010 7:52:00 AM

“She said, ‘A lie will die, and the truth will always live on.’” ------------------------------------ This quote is inspiring and something I will pass on to my brother. He was wrongfully convicted in an Orange County courtroom due to witness lies and a young, overzealous investigator (DNA was not a factor in the case). He has moved on and made the best of his life. But I can't help to think about all the hopes and dreams he had and they're now gone. Lying is a horribly accepted practice in our society (from a former U.S. president, on down to a witness testifing in front of a jury). May peace be with you Mr. Atkins.

mla 08/28/2010 7:01:00 AM

I believe this story because white women are vicious, neurotic monsters who will cry rape as soon as a dark-skinned young man is within their vastly inflated 'personal space' consisting of the entire city block. Fuck white women. Figuratively, not literally.

K. Bandell 08/28/2010 1:49:00 AM

...in an article in which there emerged appropriately a focus on the psychological tolls of repetitive false arrests and of false imprisonment, neither Mister Atkins nor Ms. Hsu used terms which under the circumstances mightvalidly have been used - e. g., anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress and/or obsessive - compulsive symptomatology - nor was there in the article any discussion of treatment (past, present and/or future) for levels of hypervigilance which in terms of Mister Atkins' being able to maximize his potential may be crippling....what instead emerged were detailed descriptions of collaboration and of collusion by a number of individuals who justifiably love Mister Atkins but who appear to have made alliances not exclusively with his person but instead with components of disease....the notion that in the absence of pharmacological and/or of traditional psychotherapy higher education will be a path to liberation is a false notion....Mister Atkins' challenges are arguably not predominantly intellectual but are instead intrapsychic...I type hoping, therefore, that Mister Atkins gains access not merely to a cascade of degrees but also to the personal help he with understandable foundations seems truly both to deserve and to need....in peace....

bill t 08/27/2010 7:47:00 PM

I appreciate OCW's policy of posting of un-edited comments but I believe that allowing blatantly self-serving commercial spam should be excepeted. If they want to advertise then they should pay like the legit OCW advertisers (thanks very much to them - appreciate the support).

Bob 08/27/2010 6:28:00 PM

When I used to hear, "... I was falsely arrested", ... I had a hard time believing them. I felt they were misleading in their stories; Until I was falsely arrested in order to shut my competitive business down. Two times by the same deputies, illegally by the same Judge. No shit, ... it can happen in the United States. Oh, ... don't think you can sue and win, ... I won, but gained nothing. I lost my business, I lost my reputation, I lost over 10 years of my life, my kids and my sanity (sanity returned). Yet, the deputies kept their jobs, ... well all except one deputy (Steven Gloyd) he hired a hitman to kill me. That put him in a one year sentence for a felony. The other deputy, still works for the guy that caused the false arrest, and enjoys his retirement pay from the county! Herman Atkins Sr.; I'm glad the system finally worked for you. Those that caused your arrest with lies and wrongful intentions, need to pay by spending some time where you have spent your adult life. I am one person who would like to help those who are in jail wrongfully.

Forever Scared

Herman Atkins is still trying to pick up the pieces 10 years after he was freed from imprisonment on phoney rape charges

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