Jimmy Soto Discusses Wrongful Incarceration with 8th Grade

Earlier this school year, Parker welcomed Jimmy Soto to campus to talk to Upper School History classes about his story as the longest wrongfully incarcerated person in Illinois. Soto was falsely accused of being involved in a double murder and spent 42 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, after an accomplice witness implicated him through false testimony.

Hearing about this visit and Soto’s story, 8th grade English teacher and Department Co-Chair David Fuder realized the connection between his story and the book his 8th graders were reading in class, Just Mercy by Brandon Stevenson. Fuder coordinated this visit with Parker parent and NU Law School’s Bluhm Legal Clinic Director Marjorie Berk Moss, who worked on Soto’s case. This experience gave the 8th graders the opportunity to meet with someone who was wrongfully convicted and hear his story, after reading and discussing other instances of wrongful convictions in Just Mercy.

“Besides gratitude to Jimmy, Marjorie and a school that supports curricular choices such as this,” Fuder shared, “I was moved by the depth of humanity that emanated from Jimmy and found inspiration in his quest to pursue a law degree so that he can help right the far too many wrongs (like his) in our justice system.”

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