Share This Episode
Our American Stories Lee Habeeb Logo

How One Man's Faith Moved Him to Fight for A Wrongly Imprisoned Man

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Truth Network Radio
January 2, 2025 3:01 am

How One Man's Faith Moved Him to Fight for A Wrongly Imprisoned Man

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

00:00 / 00:00
On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 4571 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


January 2, 2025 3:01 am

Jim McCluskey, a man of faith, is challenged by a wrongly convicted man named Chiefy, leading him to intervene and free Chiefy from prison. This experience sparks a journey of justice and redemption, ultimately leading Jim to establish Centurion Ministries, an organization dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Hello, it is Ryan and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on ChumbaCasino.com.

I looked over the person sitting next to me and you know what they were doing? They were also playing Chumba Casino. Everybody's loving having fun with it. Chumba Casino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere. So sign up now at ChumbaCasino.com. That's ChumbaCasino.com and live the Chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary.

VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and... Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real-time notifications. Kids learn to earn, save, and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place.

Try Greenlight risk-free today at Greenlight.com. Restrictions apply with the best all-inclusive vacation deals to Mexico and the Caribbean. Booking your getaway with cheap Caribbean vacations means you have more freedom to do your deal. Whether you want to enjoy snorkeling, endless margaritas, and more, or simply soak up the sun and sand in a tropical paradise, cheap Caribbean vacations has your deal for that. Plan and book the exact getaway you want at exactly the right price for you by using our exclusive budget beach finder or find a featured all-inclusive package to oasis hotels and resorts and do your deal at CheapCaribbean.com.

The new year is here. It's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive. From toothpaste to dish soap, chances are you've got Colgate Palmolive products on your shopping list and in your house right now.

We're talking brands like Colgate, Soft Soap, Palmolive, Irish Spring, Fabuloso, and Tom's of Maine. And right now, you can get up to a $10 digital visa prepaid card when you buy up to $30 of Colgate Palmolive products. Here's how it works. Spend $20 on their products, get $5. Spend $30, get a $10 reward. All you do is shop your favorite brands, snap a pic of your receipt, and upload it to CPrewards.com.

It's so easy. That's CPrewards.com. So grab what you need or maybe try something new and get rewarded just for doing your usual shopping and start your year fresh by earning cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive. Rewards available while supplies last. Limits apply. U.S. only. 1-125-331-25.

For full terms and conditions, visit CPrewards.com. And we continue with our American stories. Up next, we have a story from Jim McCluskey, co-author of the book entitled, When the Truth is All You Have.

We start off with Jim sharing a bit about his childhood and early adult life. My brother and I were made to go to Sunday school, but mom and dad were completely unchurched. And so they would just drop us off and pick us up. So one day when I was in fourth grade, I said to dad, how come Rich and I have to go to Sunday school and you and mom don't even don't go to church?

Well, that stung him, I guess. Maybe mom and dad were feeling a little guilty before that, but I provoked them by that question. And then they started going to the same church that I was going to Sunday school. They became stalwart and very active members of the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Havertown.

Dad became a very important lay leader of the church. When I was in grade school, my Christian faith was very important to me. I in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, I was fearless at that time because of my Christian faith. In other words, I wouldn't go along with the crowd. Peer pressure didn't faze me in grade school.

But once I hit junior high, then I fell into that wanting to please my peers and their values became my values. My faith was really compromised. When I was in high school, I'll never forget this, I saw a short documentary on the night life in Tokyo with all the bars and the beautiful Japanese women in their kimonos and gated shoes, walking the streets and all the lights. I was just fascinated with that mysterious city. And that's where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to Tokyo.

And I was just fascinated with that. I wanted to be a quote unquote, international businessman. I always always had this obsession to work overseas, international.

I thought that was, again, a great way to live a life. But I didn't know specifically what I wanted to do. So I decided, well, I'm going to join the Navy. And so I went to Officer Kennedy Training School in Newport, Rhode Island in the summer of 64. While at OCS, when you're nearing graduation, which I did in the summer of 64, you fill out what they call a dream sheet. My first choice that I put on my dream sheet was sure duty Japan. And that's exactly what I got.

That in and of itself is a miracle. The Navy gave me what I wanted. And they assigned me to the communication station in Yokosuka, Japan, which is about an hour's train ride south of Tokyo, along the Tokyo Bay. As a commissioned 22 year old Navy officer, I'm on my way to the land that I've always wanted to go to, Japan. Three years later, I was separated from the service. And now I'm going to the American Graduate School for International Management in Glendale, Arizona, to get a degree to return to Tokyo in a business capacity.

I graduated from the American Graduate School for International Management in October of 68. You know, I wanted to go to Japan, but I couldn't find a company willing to send me to Japan and Tokyo in particular. So I borrowed $1200 from my parents as a stake. And I flew to Tokyo without a job.

No prospects for a job. But I did have the name of a man by the name of Bud Inglesby, who had started up this management consulting firm and market research firm called Coral. And he hired me. And so I worked for Bud for three or four years.

As it turned out, unbeknownst to me or the staff of Coral, Inglesby secretly sold Coral to a joint venture between the Fuji Bank of Japan and in those days, the First National Citibank of New York, now Citicorp. And it became readily apparent to me that I had no future in that firm. I decided it's time to go home to Philadelphia. Now, here we are in the summer of 1974.

I've come back from Japan disillusioned, disheartened, feeling betrayed by Inglesby. But now I'm looking for a whole new career. And I wrote a letter to 25 different consulting firms, including a local international management consulting firm called Hay, H-A-Y, Hay Associates. Hay was the only company who was interested in hiring me.

So I was one for 25, but I struck gold with the one, Hay Associates. Now, at the same time, during those five years, I felt that an important part of my earlier life, my boyhood life, if you will, I had gone completely off track. I left the church. I wanted nothing to do with the church. When I came home from Bucknell in my freshman year, I said to Dad, Dad, I've never gone to church again. And so I didn't darken a church doorstep from when I was 19 until I'm now working for Hay in the 70s, in my early 30s. But I felt the need to go back to church and rekindle my faith, because I felt that my lifestyle was not a good one. My moral compass had gone south. So I joined the Paoli Presbyterian Church, which was very close to my house in Paoli, Pennsylvania. And the minister there was Dick Streeter, with whom I'm still close with today.

His message was to wash the other's feet, to give of yourself, to help the other, to follow the gospels of Christ. And that started to really take hold within me. I was starting to become disillusioned, even though things were going well with the corporate life. I felt I was leading a shallow, superficial, self-centered life. And in reading the words of the gospels, where Jesus talks about what it means to be a disciple and to follow him, now I felt I was a hypocrite, leading one life in darkness, and at the same time, steeped in the scriptures.

So this was a battle going on within me. And finally, I decided, after consulting only with Dick Streeter, that I think Christ was calling me to leave the business world and become a ordained Presbyterian church pastor. Which I saw that Dick Streeter, the minister of this large congregation, he was touching the hearts and souls and life-changing way of a lot of his parishioners and even people in the community. I wasn't touching anybody's heart or soul.

I wasn't serving anyone except myself. And this really started to bother me deeply. And I wanted a life where I felt I was serving others in a purposeful, authentic, meaningful way. And I felt the church pastor was the way to do it, just like Streeter. In 1979, I decided to leave, not only leave, hey, but leave the business world and go to Princeton Theological Seminary.

And when I told my boss, Bill Dinsmore, who was the second top executive in the firm, I said, Bill, there's something I need to tell you. His first words were, Jim, I didn't even know you went to church. So I was still leading two different lives. It was time for me, not that they cared all that much, but to tell the world who I really am, what's really important to me. So off to the seminary, I went. So for the next three years, I'm going to be at the seminary to earn that degree. Two of those three years, all of those students, all of us, were required to do field education work, hospitals, churches. I chose Trenton State Prison. It was just a matter of curiosity. I've never been in a prison.

I had no experience in any regard, in any way with the criminal justice system. But who are these people? Who are these inmates? And so I said, I'm going to join the program as a student chaplain. And you're listening to Jim McCluskey tell the story of his journey from businessman, international businessman, to pastor. And in the end, returning to his youth and that connection between the soul, his heart, and the rest of his life. When we come back, we're going to join Jim on that journey, the journey of becoming a pastor.

More of Jim McCluskey's story here on Our American Story. This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest with your guardrails in place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real-time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight.

Get started risk-free at greenlight.com. With the best all-inclusive vacation deals to Mexico and the Caribbean, booking your getaway with Cheap Caribbean Vacations means you have more freedom to do your deal. Whether you want to enjoy snorkeling, endless margaritas, and more, or simply soak up the sun and sand in a tropical paradise, Cheap Caribbean Vacations has your deal for that. Plan and book the exact way you want at exactly the right price for you by using our exclusive budget beach finder or find a featured all-inclusive package to Blue Diamond Resorts and do your deal at cheapcaribbean.com.

The new year's here. It's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive. From toothpaste to dish soap, chances are you've got Colgate Palmolive products on your shopping list and in your house right now.

We're talking brands like Colgate, Soft Soap, Palmolive, Irish Spring, Fabuloso, and Tom's of Maine. And right now, you can get up to a $10 digital visa prepaid card when you buy up to $30 of Colgate Palmolive products. Here's how it works. Spend $20 on their products, get $5. Spend $30, get a $10 reward. All you do is shop your favorite brands, snap a pic of your receipt, and upload it to cprewards.com.

It's so easy. That's cprewards.com. So grab what you need or maybe try something new and get rewarded just for doing your usual shopping and start your year fresh by earning cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive. Rewards available while supplies last. Limits apply. US only.

1-125-331-25. For full terms and conditions, visit cprewards.com. The holidays are here and so is the IKEA winter sale. Now's your chance to make the holidays a little more magical and less expensive.

Save up to 50% off on select items in store and online now through January 7th. Plus, IKEA loyalty members get an extra 10% off on sale items. Need help managing the clutter of decorations? IKEA storage solutions will keep your home tidy from toys and tinsel.

Having extra guests over? Check out offers on select dining furniture to make more room for the people who matter most this time of year. Don't wait to finish your winter wish list. Shop the IKEA winter sale in store or online now until January 7th.

Visit ikea-usa.com-wintersale for more details. Terms apply. Offer validates may vary. US only while supplies last. Selection may vary by store and online.

See store in ikea-usa.com-wintersale for complete terms. Restrictions apply. And we continue with our American stories and we've been listening to Jim McCluskey tell his story. Those words earlier in that segment and in his story. My moral compass had headed south and that was the swing and determining factor in this big pivot. We left off with Jim deciding to return to church and reignite the faith he'd had as a boy. Going back to church inspired him to leave the business world and pursue a seminary degree. While there he had to choose required field education work and he chose of all places Trenton State Prison.

Let's pick up where we last left off. I was assigned to the maximum security unit. He assigned me to two different cell blocks each containing 20 men in their cells 24 7. Our role was to go cell to cell two afternoons a week every Tuesday and Thursday from one to four o'clock in the afternoon and just be their friend.

Talk to them not to evangelize just talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. One of the 40 men there was a man by the name of Jorge De Los Santos nicknamed Chiefy. He was the only one who was telling me that he was an innocent man. He did not do what he was convicted for and that he was serving a life sentence for a Newark New Jersey murder. Now we were forewarned do not under any circumstances get involved in either their personal or legal problems situation and if you do you're out you're out of here never to come back again.

Up until my tenure as a student chaplain that had been strictly enforced and obeyed by all those who came before me in years before. Chiefy when I arrived at his cell which was midway down one cell block all he would talk about was his that he's innocent he got framed by the prosecutors and the police in Newark he never killed anybody and he was in prison for life for the a botched armed robbery attempt of a used car lot in Newark where whoever did this shot and killed the proprietor of that used car lot. Now at that point I've never been a juror I've never been in a courthouse I had absolutely zero connection or experience with our criminal justice system I believed at that time that if you were convicted that certainly you were guilty that the police and prosecutors would never count that's supporting perjury or in any way presenting anything other than credible substantial evidence of guilt that they were as honest as the day is long.

And yet here this man is now he was 20 he was 28 years old when he was convicted he's 34 35 by the time I encounter him and he was very honest and open with me about his lifestyle he was a heroin addict of Puerto Rican descent raised in the harshest of housing projects in Newark New Jersey two witnesses convicted of the murder of his wife and two witnesses convicted him and sent him away one was an eyewitness who claimed that when he was driving his tow truck by the used car lot he heard gunshots and then he looked in his rear view mirror and he saw he claimed to have seen Chiefy and another man who I who who he identified as Lamont Harvey fleeing the crime scene the second evidence used against Chiefy was a man by the name of Richard Della Sante who claimed that while he and Chiefy were in the Essex County Jail Chiefy awaiting trial based only on the eyewitness account Della Sante claimed that Chiefy confessed the crime to him both witnesses against Chiefy were drug addicts Della Sante in particular had an extensive criminal record although that was misrepresented at trial as I said to Chief I said come on are you telling me you're telling me not only that you're innocent but that the prosecutors framed you now why in the world would they frame you Chiefy you're you were a junkie you were basically a throwaway and why would they conjure up and go to all that trouble to frame somebody like you he said that's just the point the police convinced the eyewitness to identify me and Harvey because that helped them clear a case that's all they care about are clearing cases the prosecutors when you're a prosecutor you want to get convictions and if you don't get convictions and you go to trial then when you come back to the prosecutor's office you're not coming back with the with what you were there for in the first place a conviction so I had a very difficult time believing that over time three months September October November I finally said the chief I said look I'm not supposed to do this but I'm going to get your trial transcripts I want to read what the state has to say so I did I was able to get his trial transcripts and I read them over the Thanksgiving holiday of 1980 some 2,000 pages of of documents and basically what I learned in reading the transcripts was essentially what chief he had confirmed and then I learned that Richard de la santé had not only given a false given a jailhouse confession against chiefy but he did the same thing against his first cousin Danny de la santé he claimed at Danny's trial that Danny confessed the crime to him and Danny got convicted based on Richard de la santé's Richard de la santé's jailhouse confession and sent away to life so I read the transcripts and now I come back from Thanksgiving now we're in early December and chief he says to me he said look you've asked me a million questions and I've answered every question that you've posed as truthful as possible now I have a question for you chief he said to me I said what's that he said do you believe I'm innocent and I said well yeah I do believe you're innocent then he threw out the 64,000 question well what are you going to do about it he says to me I said chief what do you mean what am I going to do about it well there's nothing I can do I you know this is uh this is this is way beyond my my my 37 years of experience in life I don't know anything about murder I don't know anything about trials and criminal justice and DAs and police I know nothing about that's a whole new world for me he said well Jim I've been on my hands and knees praying to God for someone to believe in me and work to free me to free me whether you know it or not whether you like it or not you're that man God brought you to my cell to work to free me and bring me home to my wife Alina who was stuck by me all these years even in my drug addiction days what are you going to do he said go back to your nice safe little secure seminary and pray that somebody will help free chiefy will help rescue him from this wrongful conviction that you believe occurred I said well yeah that's kind of what I was thinking about doing he said if you leave me behind knowing that I'm believing I'm innocent then you're not really a man of faith how can you square that with God and you've been listening to Jim McCluskey tell one heck of a tale and it gets me to thinking about the two questions in the bible the first question God ever asks man which of course he asks Adam where art thou and the first question that man ever asks God and that's Cain saying am I my brother's keeper and here is Jim on his faith journey in seminary trying to fashion an answer to both of those questions God's and men's we continue with this remarkable story Jim McCluskey's story here on Our American Stories With the best all-inclusive vacation deals to Mexico and the Caribbean, booking your getaway with Cheap Caribbean Vacations means you have more freedom to do your deal. Whether you want to enjoy snorkeling, endless margaritas and more, or simply soak up the sun and sand in a tropical paradise, Cheap Caribbean Vacations has your deal for that. Plan and book the exact way you want at exactly the right price for you by using our exclusive budget beach finder or find a featured all-inclusive package to Blue Diamond Resorts and do your deal at CheapCaribbean.com The new year's here. It's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive. From toothpaste to dish soap, chances are you've got Colgate Palmolive products on your shopping list and in your house right now.

We're talking brands like Colgate, Soft Soap, Palmolive, Irish Spring, Fabuloso and Tom's of Maine. And right now you can get up to a $10 digital visa prepaid card when you buy up to $30 of Colgate Palmolive products. Here's how it works. Spend $20 on their products, get $5. Spend $30, get a $10 reward. All you do is shop your favorite brands, snap a pic of your receipt and upload it to cprewards.com.

It's so easy. That's cprewards.com. So grab what you need or maybe try something new and get rewarded just for doing your usual shopping and start your year fresh by earning cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive.

Rewards available while supplies last, limits apply, US only, $1.125 through $331.25. For full terms and conditions, visit cprewards.com. This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails in place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real-time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight.

Get started risk-free at greenlight.com slash iHeart. The holidays are here and so is the IKEA winter sale. Now's your chance to make the holidays a little more magical and less expensive.

Save up to 50% off on select items in store and online now through January 7th. Plus, IKEA loyalty members get an extra 10% off on sale items. Need help managing the clutter of decorations? IKEA storage solutions will keep your home tidy from toys and tinsel.

Having extra guests over? Check out offers on select dining furniture to make more room for the people who matter most this time of year. Don't wait to finish your winter wish list. Shop the IKEA winter sale in store or online now until January 7th.

Visit ikea-usa.com slash wintersale for more details. Terms apply. Offer validates may vary. U.S. only while supplies last. Selection may vary by store and online.

See store in ikea-usa.com slash wintersale for complete terms. Restrictions apply. Oh such a clutch off-season pickup Dave. I know right?

I was worried we'd bring back the same team. Oh no I meant those blackout motorized shades. MVP of the room. Lines.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install? No it's easy.

Even you could do it. Nice. I installed these and then got some for my mom too. You fly across the country to do the install?

Nope. Blinds.com can do it all. All she had to do was pick what she wanted. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Look at you a hall of fame son.

Oh I just picked the winning team. They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world. Oh Blinds.com is the GOAT.

The GOAT. Shop Blinds.com right now and get up to 40% off select styles. Plus a free professional measure and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Save up to 40% at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. And we return to Our American Stories. We've been listening to Jim McCloskey, author of When the Truth is All You Have and founder of Centurion, an innocence project dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted. Jim had begun his seminary field work in prison when he was confronted by a man who claimed to be innocent. And that's Chiefy. Jim was challenged on what he was going to do next.

Let's return to Jim McCloskey. And that shook me up. It struck me right to the core of my heart and soul. This man was confronting me with who am I?

What do I really believe? What does God expect of me? So I went back to the seminary quite disturbed by this challenge. I prayed. I read scripture. Then I read, I came across the book of Isaiah chapter 59. And Isaiah says in this chapter, no one goes to law honestly. They lie and spin their web of deceit. We look for justice, but there is none.

Truth has fallen from the public squares. The Lord saw this and was upset and wondered why there was no one to intervene in seeking justice. And I looked at that word intervene. And I said, I wonder if this is God's sign to me to intervene on behalf of Chiefy. And I, I felt that it was. And so I went into prison the next week, actually a little before Christmas. And I told him, I have a Christmas present for you and Elena. And so I said, Chiefy, I'm going to take a year off and I'm going to do what I can move the ball forward. I'm going to move the ball forward to try and free you. I'm going to start that in a month or so after we finish our final exams, I believe that I was called by God to do this.

So I'm doing it and we'll see how it works out. We embraced through the cell bars and silently tears coming down. We were both moved by what was going to take place. I decided to do this investigation myself. I'm 38 years old. I've been around the world.

I know a little bit about how the world works. Nevertheless, I was a greenhorn. The first thing I did, I went to Newark and stood at the exact same spot where Pat Pusilo said he was. When he heard the gunshots and saw these two men these two men flee the scene of the crime through the rear view mirror of his tow truck in darkness. And I determined very easily and quickly it was impossible for him to have seen what he said he saw based on darkness and distance.

Number one. So he's out as a credible witness. It took 10 minutes which by the way Chiefy's lawyer never did. Now I'm going to investigate Richard De La Sante, the jailhouse confession person. Richard said he had only been arrested he'd only been convicted of two crimes when in fact he had been arrested 40 times as a habitual criminal and had testified in other cases.

When at Chiefy's trial under direct examination by the trial prosecutor Kevin Kelly he claimed he had never testified in any other case at all. That was a lie and I had the documents to prove that was a lie. Then I would write Richard De La Sante letter after letter. It took a year before he finally agreed to meet with me. I got a call from him in February of 1982.

No amenities. He says I know you who you are. I know what you've been doing. I got your letters. I'm in the Hudson County jail in Jersey City.

If you want to talk to me come on up. Later that week I spent two full days visiting with Richard De La Sante and he told me the whole story and I was taping all his conversations with me. So we had a whole rich treasure full of conversations and his confessions about all the real wrongdoing he had done in Chiefy's case and Rich and Danny's case and other cases on behalf of this crooked corrupt Essex County prosecutor's detective who was his handler. And I met with the prosecutor Kevin Kelly and told him all this information.

I was naive. I still believed at that time that Kevin Kelly although he mistakenly he honestly mistakenly convicted an innocent man when he hears this new evidence that establishes that he might even help me free Chiefy. That was so naive and so naive and so dumb and when I told Kevin Kelly what I had and then I telephoned him when I telephoned him months later when I learned even more he hung up on me and said Jim I don't give a darn if 10 people come forward and confess to this crime um you know Chiefy's good for this and he hung up on me. One of the most important things I did and I got lucky is I need a lawyer.

I can't do this by myself. Paul Castellaro began work on this case with me. We were a team in late 1981. Paul was able to draw up a very compelling writ of habeas corpus and we got a hearing in federal court for the federal district judge to re to consider and review all the documented evidence as well as witness testimony post-conviction witness testimony. We put Kevin Kelly on the stand. He had to account for what we knew to be his subordination of perjury and I almost felt sorry for him by the time Paul got through with him but I didn't. On July 6th 1983 three or four months after the hearing Honorable District Judge Frederick B Lacey reversed the conviction and found as a fact that Della Sante lied to stay out of prison and that the prosecutor knew that he had lied and supported perjury. And on July 26 1983 several weeks later Paul Castellaro and I went down to Trenton State Prison and picked Chiefy up a free and exonerated man and brought him home to his wife in Newark that glorious day.

Up until that point it was the best day by far of my entire life. Now during the two and a half years I was working for Chiefy I had met three other New Jersey lifers who I had come to believe were also innocent. That all three were asking me to please do for them what I had done for Chiefy after we freed them. Now we come to another crossroads which is in July of 1983 Chiefy's freed. I had finished my Master of Divinity degree program that was completed at the same time but at that time I was broke.

However just at that time now I have a choice to make. Am I going to now go on and get ordained as a church pastor or what am I going to do with these three other men? Just when I'm struggling with that decision I received a ten thousand dollar tax-free gift from my mother and father.

They had come into some extraordinary income from an old investment they had made years before and they gave each of us three kids a ten thousand dollar tax-free gift. I looked at that as matter from heaven and seed money to begin what I later called Centurion Ministries. I decided to establish a non-profit organization called Centurion Ministries and I named it Centurion after the Centurion. In the Gospel of Luke the Centurion standing at the foot of the crucified Christ looks up and says surely this one was innocent.

That's where the name comes from. Then I began work I started to work on those three cases. Eventually we freed all three. Renee Santana was freed in February of 86, Nate Walker was freed in November of 86, and Damaso Vega was freed in November of 1989.

And a terrific job on the storytelling and production by Faith Buchanan and Robbie Davis and a special thanks to Jim McCluskey for his work with Chiefy and with so many others. Centurion has freed 67 men and women serving life sentences and all again because he answered God's calls. Who am I? he asked. What do I believe and what does God require of me when challenged by Chiefy? And Isaiah chapter 59 provided the answer for him.

God had sent a sign to me he said that word intervene just kept calling at me. And by the way you can get to Jim's organization Centurion at centurion.org. Jim McCluskey's story here on Our American Story. Kroger brand products have the great taste you'll celebrate. That's why over 40 million people choose Kroger brand products making them a true crowd pleaser. And with quality guaranteed you'll love your choice or get your money back. Score Kroger brand products with savings you can cheer for and great taste you can't resist. Kroger fresh for everyone. With the best all-inclusive vacation deals to Mexico and the Caribbean booking your getaway with cheap Caribbean vacations means you have more freedom to do your deal whether you want to enjoy snorkeling endless margaritas and more or simply soak up the sun and sand in a tropical paradise cheap Caribbean vacations has your deal for that plan and book the exact getaway you want at exactly the right price for you by using our exclusive budget beach finder or find a featured all-inclusive package to oasis hotels and resorts and do your deal at cheap caribbean.com the new year's here it's the perfect time to refresh those household essentials and score some cashback rewards with Colgate Palmolive from toothpaste to dish soap chances are you've got Colgate Palmolive products on your shopping list and in your house right now we're talking brands like Colgate soft soap Palmolive Irish Spring Fabuloso and Toms of Maine and right now you can get up to a ten dollar digital visa prepaid card when you buy up to thirty dollars of Colgate Palmolive products here's how it works spend twenty dollars on their products get five dollars spend thirty dollars get a ten dollar reward all you do is shop your favorite brands snap a pic of your receipt and upload it to cprewards.com it's so easy that's cprewards.com so grab what you need or maybe try something new and get rewarded just for doing your usual shopping and start your year fresh by earning cash back rewards with Colgate Palmolive rewards available while supplies last limits apply us only 1 125 through 3 31 25 for full terms and conditions visit cprewards.com Clorox Scentiva smells like lavender cleans like Clorox and feels like hmm all right that could go on for a while experience the long-lasting freshness of Clorox Scentiva now available in Clorox Scentiva lavender scented leach uses directed did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach meet Greenlight the debit card and money app for families with Greenlight you can send money to kids quickly set up chores automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real-time notifications kids learn to earn save and spend wisely and parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place try Greenlight risk-free today at greenlight.com slash i heart

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime