May 4, 2004, was John Stoll’s first taste of freedom in almost 20 years

John Stoll Celebrates 20 Birthdays At Once

by Andrew Adelmann

John Stoll’s birthday celebration seemed normal for a person turning 61. He left his home, traveled down the highway, and met some friends for dinner at a restaurant called Harris Ranch.

When he arrived, someone was waiting to hug him and then he sat down to enjoy a steak dinner followed by a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. All the while, he talked to great lengths with those joining him.

Despite how it seemed, it was no ordinary birthday. The home he left was a prison, the friends he was meeting for dinner were lawyers and members of the press, and the dinner he enjoyed was his first meal after nearly two decades of jail food.

May 4, 2004, was Stoll’s first taste of freedom in almost 20 years. After being found guilty of 17 acts of child molestation in 1985, Stoll was sentenced to 40 years in prison before being exonerated just days before his 61st birthday.

Almost a year later, Stoll’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses, as he paused carefully before patiently answering each question from journalism students at Loyola University Chicago.

Being one of those students, I had prepared an outline of questions, but I certainly wanted to barrage him with every trivial curiosity about being an innocent man in prison.

While I furiously penned at my paper to capture what he was saying, I could not help but imagine 20 calendars stacked on my desk.

I imagined those calendars as chronicles of all the people I had met and loved over the years, the places I had seen, and all the steps I had taken to become a man.

Yet for Stoll, a Bakersfield, Calif. native, someone had taken all of that from him.

Part of an alleged child molestation crime ring, Stoll was reportedly proven guilty after a group of 6 to 8 year olds had testified that Stoll had indeed sexually abused them.

Thanks to a team of lawyers and law students known as the National California Innocence Project, however, Stoll’s name was cleared after facts were exposed that showed coercion by authorities to garner false testimonies.

Thanks to a team of lawyers and law students known as the National California Innocence Project, Stoll’s name was cleared

Yet, while Stoll is now free and says he has not stopped smiling since, I could not help but wonder how many previous smile lines the sometimes troubling idea of social justice had denied his aged face.

From the time I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to do so on my own selfish accord. I thought I was good at writing and I certainly enjoyed doing so. Listening to Stoll’s story though, I realized that among the many, journalism is a tool of social justice.

This story is only one in a pool of voices which can only be heard thanks to the power of journalism.

Thousands of miles from Bakersfield, my job and purpose here in Chicago has become simply to give 15 minutes of my time to a person who has 20 years of his.