What’s Chester Hollman doing now after being featured in The Innocence Files? Based on the work of The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, the Netflix docuseries investigates how and why Hollman was wrongfully convicted for a 1991 murder in Philadelphia. The Innocence Files released in April 2020.
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney, Hollman’s episode in The Innocence Files locks into the concept of legal integrity. Right from the start, police knew about an anonymous tip that seemed to identify a logical suspect, yet Hollman was conveniently detained to support a contrived theory. As a whole, the 85-minute installment of the Netflix docuseries shows how a corrupt prosecutor named Roger King covered up exculpatory evidence that could’ve benefited Hollman’s case, and how a trailblazing District Attorney named Larry Krasner pushed out the old guard in order to find the truth.
In February 2018, the Philadelphia County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed Hollman’s case, and discovered a box of evidence with nail clippings from the crime scene. DNA testing cleared Hollman, and he was officially exonerated in July 2019. The Innocence Files on Netflix documents Hollman’s moment of release after serving 25 years in prison. He appears purely relieved, and also unsure about his immediate future. “I gotta figure out something to do,” Hollman says, “I just have to keeping going.” Hollman reportedly moved to Delaware after his release.
Hollman recently spoke at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Germantown in December 2019 (via Chestnut Hill Local). He also adopted a dog named Journey that he trained while in prison. Unfortunately, the State of Pennsylvania doesn’t have a compensation program in place, so Hollman won’t be receiving the financial care that other subjects in The Innocence Files were given. A GoFundMe donation page exists for the Chester Hollman III Justice Fund, but has seemingly been deactivated and isn’t accepting payments.
The Innocence Project website doesn’t include a current update for Hollman, but does feature a round-up about his story and involvement in The Innocence Files. Based on an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Hollman hasn’t fully transitioned into a new life as a free man after getting used to daily life in prison for a quarter century. He states, “I feel like I’m crushed inside. I don’t feel like I’m really me. It took every ounce of strength to make it to this point.”
As shown in The Innocence Files, Hollman’s legal backstory in one of the more dispiriting cases of the Netflix docuseries, at least in terms of institutional corruption and unresolved financial issues. Neufeld, The Innocence Project co-founder, pinpoints a small part of the problem when addressing legal authorities who prioritize an adversarial mentality over the absolute truth. “Once people lie,” Neufeld says, “they commit to the lie. And there’s no incentive for them to give that up.”
