He Sang to Freedom After 36 Years in Angola

In April 1983, a 22-year-old Baton Rouge man was convicted of a violent crime he did not commit and sentenced to life without parole. He would spend the next 36 years inside Angola State Penitentiary before a fingerprint match told the truth. Then he walked onto a television stage and sang.

Convicted on a Misidentification

On December 9, 1982, a woman was attacked in her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Police showed her photo lineups and she identified Archie Williams. The problem: Archie stood 5'4" tall, but witnesses had described the attacker as between 5'9" and 5'11". He had no criminal record and maintained his innocence from the day he was arrested.

Unmatched fingerprints were recovered from the crime scene - but they were never run through any database for comparison. In April 1983, Archie was convicted on multiple charges and sentenced to life without parole. He was 22 years old.

The Fingerprints Nobody Ran

Attorneys with the Innocence Project New Orleans took up Archie's case and spent years fighting to have those unmatched fingerprints submitted to the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. The state resisted for years.

In March 2019, the prints were finally run. They matched Stephen Forbes - a serial rapist who had committed similar attacks in the same Baton Rouge neighborhood and had already died in custody in 1996. On March 21, 2019, all of Archie's convictions were vacated. He walked out of Angola after 36 years.

The Stage He Saw in His Mind

From his cell, Archie had watched America's Got Talent for years. He told interviewers he used to picture himself standing on that stage. In 2020 - one year after his release - he made that picture real.

He sang Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." All four judges rose to their feet. Simon Cowell told him: "This is an audition I will never forget for the whole of my life, Archie."

Elton John Called That Night

Elton John called Archie personally, moved to tears by the performance. He invited Archie to come sing at one of his shows. Simon Cowell, moved by what he had witnessed, became an official Innocence Project ambassador - pledging to use his platform to raise awareness about wrongful convictions.

Archie Williams returned to compete on AGT: All-Stars in 2023. He had watched the show from behind bars for years. He finally got to stand on that stage.