About Me
It was Thursday, March 10, 1983, when my life split in two.
I came home and found my mother dying from a brutal attack. I tried to save her. Called for help. Performed first aid. None of it was enough. She died at Encino hospital, in emergency surgery.
I was 17 years old.
What followed was its own violence. The evidence pointed outward. But the investigation turned inward—toward me. Critical facts were ignored. Distorted. Rewritten. Contradictions set aside. An obvious suspect was released and left free to harm others—which of course he did. In his place, the LAPD built a story—false, convenient, and devastating.
I was convicted of murdering my own mother and sentenced to life in state prison.
Hawaii (1974). Bruce with the family's 8mm camera. Decades later, 48 Hours Mysteries featured footage from this day in its episode "The Whole Truth," about his mother's botched murder investigation and his wrongful conviction for the crime. Click to Watch Now.
I spent the next 26 years of my life incarcerated for a crime I did not commit.
Those years were brutal. They were meant to finish me.
They did not.
Steel bars narrowed the world. Concrete closed in. But something essential held. I kept what I could—beauty, memory, imagination. Redwoods rising like cathedrals. City lights beyond the dark. Ocean sunsets remembered, rebuilt, sometimes invented. Even inside, I trained my eyes on freedom.
That was not escape. It was discipline. It was resistance. It was survival with intention.
I made myself a promise: if I ever walked out, I would not return to the life that was taken. I would build one. I would return to truth, to expression, to meaning. I would become more than what had been done to me.
I carried that promise. Day by day. Year by year.
Survive. Create. Give.
In August 2009, after 9,653 days, I walked out of prison. I had met the high burden of proving my innocence in federal court. Since reclaiming my life, now years ago, writing and photography have become instruments of that promise—ways to shape experience, to metabolize trauma, to turn what was broken into something that still carries meaning.
This site is not only about what was taken. It is about what remained. It is about what was rebuilt.
It is about refusing erasure.
It is about justice—yes. But also authorship. Compassion. The deliberate act of reclaiming a life from the false stories imposed by others.
If you are here, thank you.
For looking past the headline. Past the accusation. Past the easy version.
For meeting the human being beneath it.
What I have, I give—voice, witness, memory, and the proof that a life can be taken apart and still be rebuilt.
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my services
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Website Solutions
Complete Sites from $1,500 — Need an impactful website or expert care for your existing one? I provide elegant, user-friendly designs, customization, and ongoing management. Let's create something truly amazing together!
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Photo Restoration
Transform your faded memories into vivid keepsakes. Using two new state-of-the-art photo scanners, I scan, rejuvenate, and refine images to showcase their best. Pricing varies based on job size and attention required.
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Your Tech Fixer
Technology giving you the blues? I can fix glitchy apps, lost passwords, flashing VCR clocks and more!. Affordable pricing, multiple issues resolved per call. Drop me a line, and we'll get everything fixed in one shot, quickly and efficiently!
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Speaker for Worthy Causes
I'm dedicated to using my wrongful conviction experience to fight injustices, champion causes, and inspire change. I aim to support needed legislation, be a voice for the voiceless, and turn tragedy into human benefit.
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Event Photographer
My love for the visual arts, a good camera and a keen eye for detail may resonate... Browse my gallery and see if we're a match. Currently offered to family and friends, only.
my wrongful conviction • in the media
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television & film
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print & web
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radio & podcast
I’m a…
Wrongful Conviction Survivor.
Healing Human.
Photographer.
"Through Innocent Eyes"
Confinement permanently reshaped how I see—everything.
What I notice, what I value, what I refuse to overlook.
"Through Innocent Eyes" emerges and expounds upon that. Prison stripped life down to the raw essentials. In that narrowing, my vision widened. I found meaning in stillness, beauty in constraint, and grace in places designed to extinguish it—light sliding across concrete, shadows breathing against walls, quiet resilience held in a single human expression.
My photography is not about spectacle. It is about attention. Presence. It lives in the moment between restriction and freedom, absence and presence. These images carry the weight of lost time, sharpened by a lifelong practice of noticing—of choosing to see what remains when almost everything else is taken.
"Through Innocent Eyes" invites you into that way of looking. To slow down. To honor the fragile, fleeting nature of every moment. To see the world through eyes shaped by loss, but guided—always—by gratitude, curiosity, and love.
contact me
I’d love to hear from you.
Have a question, feedback, or just want to say hello? Feel free to drop a message anytime using the form below.
I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
organizations I like…
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Death Penalty Focus
COMMITTED TO THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION, GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING AND POLITICAL ADVOCACY, MEDIA OUTREACH, AND DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COALITION BUILDING.
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The Innocence Center
THE INNOCENCE CENTER IS AN INDEPENDENT NON-PROFIT LAW FIRM DEDICATED TO FREEING THE INNOCENT FROM PRISON, EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON THE CAUSES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTION, AND ASSISTING FREED CLIENTS AS THEY REENTER SOCIETY.
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The National Registry of Exonerations
THE MISSION OF THE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF EXONERATIONS IS TO PROVIDE COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ON EXONERATIONS OF INNOCENT CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS IN ORDER TO PREVENT FUTURE FALSE CONVICTIONS BY LEARNING FROM PAST ERRORS.
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The Freedom to Choose Project
TRANSFORMING LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS IMPACTED BY INCARCERATION THROUGH COMPASSIONATE EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION.
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PBS
PBS AND THEIR MEMBER STATIONS ARE AMERICA’S LARGEST CLASSROOM, THE NATION’S LARGEST STAGE FOR THE ARTS AND A TRUSTED WINDOW TO THE WORLD. IN ADDITION, PBS'S EDUCATIONAL MEDIA HELPS PREPARE CHILDREN FOR SUCCESS IN SCHOOL AND OPENS UP THE WORLD TO THEM IN AN AGE-APPROPRIATE WAY.
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ASPCA
THE ASPCA’S MISSION, AS STATED BY FOUNDER HENRY BERGH IN 1866, IS “TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE MEANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.” OUR ORGANIZATION WAS FOUNDED ON THE BELIEF THAT ANIMALS ARE ENTITLED TO KIND AND RESPECTFUL TREATMENT AT THE HANDS OF HUMANS AND MUST BE PROTECTED UNDER THE LAW.
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Pets Lifeline
PETS LIFELINE PROTECTS AND IMPROVES THE LIVES OF CATS AND DOGS IN NEED IN SONOMA VALLEY THROUGH SHELTERING AND ADOPTION, HUMANE EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS.
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St. Jude's
TO ADVANCE CURES, AND MEANS OF PREVENTION, FOR PEDIATRIC CATASTROPHIC DISEASES THROUGH RESEARCH AND TREATMENT. CONSISTENT WITH THE VISION OF OUR FOUNDER DANNY THOMAS, NO CHILD IS DENIED TREATMENT BASED ON RACE, RELIGION OR A FAMILY'S ABILITY TO PAY.
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Wounded Warrior Project
THE MISSION OF WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT IS TO HONOR AND EMPOWER WOUNDED WARRIORS. THEIR VISION IS TO FOSTER THE MOST SUCCESSFUL, WELL-ADJUSTED GENERATION OF WOUNDED SERVICE MEMBERS IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY. WWP BEGAN IN 2003 AS A SMALL, GRASSROOTS EFFORT PROVIDING SIMPLE CARE AND COMFORT ITEMS TO THE HOSPITAL BEDSIDES OF THE FIRST WOUNDED SERVICE MEMBERS RETURNING HOME FROM THE CONFLICTS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. AS THEIR POST-SERVICE NEEDS EVOLVED, SO HAVE OUR PROGRAMS AND SERVICES.
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Claire's Place Foundation
CLAIRE’S PLACE FOUNDATION PROVIDES HEART-FELT ASSISTANCE TO THE FAMILIES OF CHILDREN AND TO INDIVIDUALS DIAGNOSED WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS. WE WORK TO HEIGHTEN AWARENESS AND WE PROVIDE EDUCATION, SKILLS, FINANCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT.