Edward Ates is a man from Texas who was convicted of the murder of his neighbor, Elnora Griffin, in 1998 and spent 20 years in prison before being paroled in 2018. He has consistently maintained his innocence.
**Early Life and Crime**
* Ates grew up in the country and loved basketball, playing for his high school team. His aspirations for college basketball did not pan out due to "off-the-court issues."
* In 1993, Elnora Griffin, his neighbor, was found stabbed to death. Ates, who worked as her handyman, was arrested and charged with the murder. There was no physical evidence tying him to the crime scene, but an inconsistency in his alibi led to his arrest.
* He was first tried in 1996, which resulted in a hung jury.
* In a second trial in 1998, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The conviction was based on the testimony of a fellow inmate, Kenneth Snow, who claimed Ates confessed to the crime. Snow's testimony was added to the evidence from the first trial, which i...
