In 2008, I met Darby Tillis. I saw him on the side of the road. He was a complete stranger. The summer heat was intense. He was wearing all black. He had a velvet fez on his head. Sweat was pouring down the side of his face. I saw the large gold cross that he was wearing on a large chain on his chest and felt compelled to offer him a ride to wherever he was going. At first, he declined. I drove around the block and felt relieved that whatever called me to offer a stranger a ride while my children slept in car seats in the back of the car might be satisfied with the thought that I tried. However, the nagging pull at my heart to ask again could not be ignored. I drove back and asked him again. I said, "I think this is a God thing."
So Darby agreed. He needed a ride to the South Side of Chicago. I drove him.
Some important things to realize when I tell you this: I get lost easily. I don't like to take long drives. I am not familiar with the South Side. I went anyway. I wasn't afraid.
Darby seemed very nervous. He told me later that he was concerned that maybe somebody was trying to mess with him. He thought it was pretty strange for a white lady to insist on giving him a ride in her car to wherever he needed to go. He thought maybe it was a set up.
I asked him about himself and he told me that he was scheduled to do a public speaking engagement and if I hadn't stopped--he was going to have to miss the event because the bus didn't arrive on time. We drove through downtown and I pointed to a building where my husband used to work in an office with another lawyer. He asked me, "Does he know Fat Freddie?" I said, "Yes, that's his mentor." He shook his head and laughed. He pointed and said, "I used to live there. Do you know that building?" I said, "No." He told me that's where they keep prisoners that my husband and Fred Cohn would visit and work to represent. He told me he was on death row for 17 years. I felt my palms get very cold and damp. I tried to stay cool. I just said, "I would like to know more about that."
He told me that many years before DNA evidence, he was targeted as a possible suspect in a murder-robbery case. He said that he did not do the actual crime, but he may have been headed toward that kind of a life. He was an angry young man. He asked me, "Do you know what it is like to have real anger in your heart?" I said that I believed I did. My mother and her boyfriend who was also a Catholic priest used, lied to and manipulated me a lot when I was growing up in ways that really hurt me and required a lot of therapy to overcome. He said, "Well, maybe God had a plan for us today. Maybe this was no accidental meeting. Maybe it was divine intervention." I know a lot of people find that kind of talk off-putting--but I don't. I thought he was on to something. Not on something.
The rest of his story was about the Innocence Project. If you are pro-life from conception to the grave--that's important. He was prepared to die for a crime he didn't commit. God took his anger and turned it into compassion for others. He spent his time in prayer and in the study of the Bible. Guards and other inmates saw a change in him. The students at Northwestern University and lawyers sympathetic to the stories of death row inmates who claimed innocence found evidence that cleared Darby of all ties to the case that put him in jail. This work led to Darby's exoneration.
Darby helped my life by sharing his story with me that day and praying with me as we drove in the car--asking for God's healing of my anger over things I didn't deserve, can't change and don't understand. I knew God heard our prayers. I felt a lot of the burden lift. More importantly, I knew a larger work was underway. I knew that God had a purpose in mind for Charlie (my husband) in working with Darby.
Later, he and my husband met and worked together to help a few people that Darby knew who needed legal advice and who were innocent receive good legal counsel. I happened to drive past Darby another time when he was changing the tire on a vehicle on the side of the road. I offered help but he had it covered.
I only met Darby Tillis a few times after that because we moved away the next year. I am glad he let me take him to his speaking engagement and look forward to meeting him again in heaven when my time comes.
