“Sins of the Father” is a gritty “true crime story” and a classic tale of survival and “good triumphs over evil.” It combines a compelling story with an inspirational message of triumph over adversity, belief in others, the transformational power of hope, and the unbridled passion of working with purpose and conviction. It’s a powerful story of finding justice in the midst of overwhelming injustice.
“Sins of the Father” tells the incredible, inspirational true story of Adam Riojas… a man wrongfully convicted of murder… a murder committed by HIS OWN FATHER who kept it a secret, until a death bed confession, while Adam sat in prison for nearly 14 years. It tells of the committed, Herculean efforts of an inexperienced law student with help from a rock legend to right an unthinkable wrong.
Adam, a successful real-estate broker, had only been in trouble with the law once before… for a high-school prank of wrapping a house in toilet paper. Everything seemed to be coming Adam’s way; he had money and success, a home in Oceanside, California, and in Hawaii. But disaster struck with a vengeance, and his life was forever changed
One day while visiting his girlfriend in Oceanside two friends of the family asked if they could borrow Adam’s van. Being the good guy that he is, Adam obliged. The friends then drove the van to Los Angeles, met up with Adam’s father, a convicted drug smuggler, and in a drug deal gone bad Adam’s father fatally shot a man in cold blood. He and the two friends dumped the body in East Los Angeles and took off. The men then returned the van to Adam with him completely unaware of the horrifying crime that had taken place.
The police ran the van’s license plate and found that Adam was the registered owner, so they showed his photo to eyewitnesses. Given that Adam looked exactly like his father, the eyewitnesses fingered him as the gunman.
Despite testimony from his girlfriend that Adam was with her that day, and testimony from the men who borrowed the van that Adam knew nothing about the crime, and wasn’t even there, Adam was convicted from the faulty eyewitness accounts and sent to prison with a sentence of 15 years to life. But in an unbelievable turn, after 12 years, racked with guilt and dying, Adam’s father made a startling confession… he’d been keeping the horrifying secret that he, and not Adam, was the one who committed the murder… cowardly allowing his son to rot in prison for his crime.
Then a determined first-year law student, with funding by rock legend Joe Walsh, began an incredible two year, tireless effort to free an innocent man.
On April 26, 2004, the chains came off, the gates opened, and Adam Riojas walked out of prison… free.
This is an amazing story of survival, of hope, of faith, of redemption… and one man’s struggle to forgive the ultimate betrayal.
