Gary Tyler
After nearly 42 years of imprisonment for a crime he did not commit, Gary Tyler came out on top of his situation and has shared it with anyone willing to hear. Not many people could come from such hardship and pain only to overcome it with passion, love, and charity.
“You should never forget what happened to you—never—but you should let go of the hate and animosity because hate can be like poison,” Tyler said in an interview with the La Crosse Tribune.
Tyler spoke at Viterbo University on September 20 to discuss his life and the path that brought him to forgive his accusers.
“Forgiveness is a powerful thing in life,” says Tyler. “I learned how to forgive people for what they’ve done to me.”
It all started during a riot over school integration. Tyler had been on a school bus at the time when a student by the name of Timothy Weber was shot and killed. Although the bus driver claims the shot came from outside the school bus and no weapon was found inside the bus, Tyler was charged with first-degree murder. Hardly a year later, he was convicted by an all-white jury.
After his conviction, Tyler was sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary as the youngest inmate on death row.
Tyler fortunately avoided the electric chair when U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty law unconstitutional.
During his prison term, Tyler tried to make the best of his time. He made friends on the inside and did his best to include everyone during his time in paralegal school. He was even head of the drama club.
By the time Louisiana offered him a plea deal of 21 years for manslaughter, he had already served twice that.
After this plea, he was released and, in many ways, he had to learn how to live. He cherishes the moments that others do not appreciate.
Despite the whole situation and his circumstances, Tyler maintained a positive attitude while others in his situation ended up in the life of crime.
“I had a chance to choose the right path. I could gather something good out of something bad,” he explains in the Tribune. “I survived my ordeal and came out a better person than I came in.”
Tyler now lives in Pasadena, California, working for a charitable organization by the name of Safe Place for Youth, which supports children who are homeless or vulnerable. By being a part of this organization, Tyler hopes to save the next generation from the legal system and from the life he had.