The Verdict Was Guilty, But God Revealed the Truth

“They sentenced me to 75 years in prison. Take him away.” Recalls Sedrick Moore. In 2002 Sedrick and another man were wrongfully convicted of robbery and rape. Their lives were shattered by nothing more than inconclusive dna results and the calculating lies of the actual offender. Despite the fact the victim identified entirely different perpetrators. A perfect storm of flawed evidence and false testimony stole years from two men who never belonged behind bars.

“I always held to I didn't commit the crime, and they they will eventually see this.” Says Sedrick, “I was thinking that had to be some type of mistake, and they would get it all situated. It's a nightmare, quite frankly.”

Sedrick fought the conviction to no avail.  So he was sentenced  to 75 years, facing horrors he never imagined. He says, “I’ve seen a guy get stabbed, I’ve seen guys get raped. My thing was to mind my business, do my time until I can get this thing taken care of.”

After several years in prison Sedrick got access to a cell phone. Through a dating app he became friends with a woman named holly. They communicated almost daily for a while.  After a long break in their communication he called her in 2020, unaware she had just become a Christian. Holly recalls, “We picked up like we were old friends. He said to me, ‘can I prove to you I'm innocent?’ And I was like, ‘can I tell you about Jesus?’

“She was doing a lot of praying. She was she was, quoting a lot of a lot of Bible, Bible, scriptures and quotes from God. And she was she was also a lot more compassionate.” Sedrick says. 

During that time Sedrick’s co-defendant was released due to advancements in DNA testing. Sedrick believed he could have the same result, if he could just retain a lawyer. He says, “I knew I was innocent, and I had to figure out a way to get it into the court system.”

“He had showed me all this stuff that had already been proven about his, somebody else in his case, but I felt there was nothing I could do to help him it wasn’t even a thought in my head at that moment. It was like ‘that’s unfortunate, I’ll pray for you.’ Says Holly. And she did. Holly began fighting for Sedrick’s freedom, through prayer and listening for God’s direction. She says, “He told me to look up scriptures pertaining to justice, freedom, salvation, and to begin to declare those scriptures over Sedrick, every day when I prayed. And the Lord told me to start taking my tithes to the alter and writing on the back of that so I would write these scriptures for Sedrick’s freedom on the back of these tithe envelopes and I went before the courts of Heaven and just prayed for Sedrick on his behalf, interceded on his behalf.

“To be able to have that support system in Holly it was phenomenal. We prayed. We prayed for my freedom. We prayed to get this in front of a judge.” Says Sedrick. 

Holly then took the battle to the justice system. Sedrick recalls, “She would call judges, lawyers, DAs. Her persistence with these people they knew her on a personal friend level. That tells you how much they talked to her on a daily basis, the clerk of courts.”
Holly says, “The Lord showed me a vision of a chess board and I saw the hand of God coming down and moving these chess pieces around and he was telling me that he had moved people into positions that he needed them. I called different lawyers, they all wanted $50 to $100,000 I called this one lawyer who had set the other co-defendant free and he said, ‘Holly I’ve been waiting for your phone call for two years.’”

Holly retained the lawyer for $3000. Sedrick was then able to submit his DNA to the court. “It’s God man. It was he was lining everybody up along the way. like, finally, you know, finally somebody is listening.” Sedrick says. “Once we got that before, judge and, they heard it and saying that the DNA didn't match, it was pretty much A wrap from there. 

With a new judge who was familiar with Sedrick’s case, and new evidence, Sedrick was soon set free, grateful God had opened up doors for his release. He says, “The first thing I say thank you Jesus, thank you God. I'm thankful for Holly. But I'm thankful also for God aligning her in my life to to be able to help me like that. He knew what I needed and he knew the type of person I needed. And he knew God knew it couldn't be a worldly person because a worldly person wasn't going to be to do the things that needed to be done to get me out. She was there for the long haul. You know. And, she's seen it all the way through. She's my wife today, I'm very grateful for her.”

“To see all of this come to pass, I was just so happy for him. Says Holly, “After 24 years of being incarcerated, for him to get released and for God to use us, I mean, it's just it's mind blowing and it's definitely powerful. I have just watched prayers get answered, that, you know, God watches over His Word when we declare the Word of God over a situation he, you know, dispatches angels to to make it happen, you know, because His word does not return void.”

“And I just give all praise and thanks to God.” Sedrick says, “I just take everything to him because at the, at the end of the day, what, what people say, what man and woman do don't really matter. He has the last say so.”