My name is Etienne Moore, I am 43 years old. I was 19 when I was arrested for the crimes that earned me two (2) sentences of Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP). Now I can go on speaking about the fact that I was “wrongfully convicted” , but for the purpose of this movement I won’t. In the beginning of my incarceration, I blamed everyone else for me being here but “I” made the choice to run the streets instead of honoring the sacrifices of all the people who tried to push me down the right path. I went from a high school basketball star to a prisoner in one (1) year.
My factual innocence does not relieve the guilt I feel for condoning the things that happened because I made zero attempts to stop them, before or after. The pain and anguish I feel and have caused is real & there’s not a day that passes by that it doesn’t haunt my soul.
Nevertheless, I have no plans to repeat these mistakes & I have every intention on doing everything in my power to make a difference for the better in every way possible.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the pain I caused my loved ones. Though I wasn’t the culprit of the crimes I was convicted of, I still knew the people involved & what they were doing, so it kills me to know that people were hurt on account of me “not” being brave enough to try and stop the nonsense of my peers, and I’m so sorry for the pain that has been brought.
I’m happy to say that I’ve weathered the storm & I’ve finally found some purpose and done some good! I’ve decided to bring a positive message to the youth through my actions & maybe prevent some of this pain from happening again.
I am grateful for everyone at Fair Chance & every other person fighting to help guys & girls in my situation to have another chance at making a life outside of these walls.