Uriah Courtney received a life sentence for a kidnapping and rape he did not commit. Despite having a solid alibi, a remarkable series of coincidences put him on law enforcement’s radar. His stepfather, Rick Gambino, owned a truck that looked similar to the one driven by the actual rapist. By coincidence, one of Gambino’s employees lived in the area where the crime occurred and happened to be borrowing that truck at the time.

When the police investigated the truck, they looked into both the employee and Rick Gambino. Neither matched the description of the actual rapist—but there was a problem. The rapist bore a slight resemblance to Uriah, and a false identification led to his arrest.

At the time, Uriah worked for his stepfather in a construction business. The two had a troubled history, but Gambino knew for a fact that Uriah was innocent—he was at work during the crime. Despite providing this information to investigators, along with a witness who was at work with Uriah, prosecutors did not believe him, and neither did the jury. He was convicted on March 15, 2006.

If it weren’t for his stepfather’s persistence and DNA recovered from evidence at the crime scene, Uriah Courtney would have spent the rest of his life in prison. This is his story…

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Written by:
Laurence Colletti