My name is Erica, and I'm asking for your help to free an innocent man.
His name is Thomas Aranda. In April 2008, he was a 16-year-old kid in Chelan County, Washington. Today he is 35, and he has spent more than half his life behind bars — over 18 years — for something DNA has proven he didn't do.
This is not a story I'm asking you to take on faith. A forensic DNA expert, Dr. Michael J. Spence, Ph.D., reviewed the evidence and concluded under oath that the DNA results "substantially exonerated" Thomas. Even the original crime lab analyst acknowledged the limitations of the testing done back in 2008. You can read the full case, the timeline, and the evidence yourself at justiceforthomasaranda.com.
As a teenager in county jail, Thomas spent well over a year in solitary confinement — no TV, no radio, no one to talk to for months. In his words: "It was torture." Under that pressure, at 18, he entered a guilty plea.
But here is who Thomas became in the 18 years since: more than 10 years without a single infraction. Voluntary programming. Trained peer-support counselor. A Christmas drive for kids. Food for people experiencing homelessness. Music-therapy work with youth. He has never been an adult in the free world — and he has spent his entire adulthood trying to earn his way back to one.
At his resentencing on June 29, 2026, Thomas told the court: "I've never been an adult in the free world ever. I'm not standing here today because I feel like I deserve anything. I'm standing here asking for mercy."
The court imposed a 180-month minimum with a maximum of life. Life — for a 16-year-old kid the DNA evidence says didn't do it.
We are raising $25,000 to get Thomas the lawyer he has never had — the one who can take his appeal and his new-trial fight to court. Post-conviction filings face strict deadlines. Every month without counsel is a month his case sits still while the clock runs.
Every dollar goes directly to his attorney — not to me, not to his family. Just the legal fight: attorney fees, expert witnesses, filing fees, court costs.
Thomas has spent 18 years becoming someone worth believing in. He is a son, a father, and a man who has never stopped fighting for the truth. Now he needs a legal team that can get his case back in front of a court — and he needs it before the clock runs out.
If his story moves you, please give what you can and share this with one person who believes young people can change. His mother Stacie, DWalls and the MOTIVE community, and all of us who love him are standing with him.
Thank you for reading this far. It means more than you know.
-Erica
