About

When you ask someone to describe James, you get responses like “dedicated”, “committed”, “family man”, “mentor”, “father”, “uncle”, “brother”, and “son”. The list goes on about James' many positive qualities and why he's missed on the outside by so many. However, the primary quality that sticks out in everyone's mind about James is his love of people and his ability to make everyone's life shine a little bit brighter.

James Richardson was born and raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He was the middle child of nine siblings and grew up in Kearney Park, one of Greenville’s oldest public housing projects. Outside of family, sports were his first love. He knew if he worked hard, sports would be his ticket to building a better life for himself and his family. When James wasn't in school or with his family, he was on the baseball field or the basketball court. Baseball was his first love, but when he held that basketball for the first time, he knew it was his calling.

James attended J.H. Rose High School. He was a stand-out student and athlete – landing several Division 1 scholarships to continue playing basketball on the collegiate level. James went on to graduate from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, where he led his basketball team in scoring for two seasons. After college, he continued doing what he loved most. He went on to play basketball professionally overseas for multiple countries, including France, Greece, Norway, and Bulgaria. During his academic and professional careers, James was a driving force in many mentoring programs and always found ways to give back to his community.

By the time James reached his early 30s, he had decided to return to the U.S. to be closer to his family. He finally knew what he wanted to do with his life and had huge plans to make a difference in his community and people's lives across all walks of life. His goal was to make a career out of mentoring and advocating for the youth and continuing to grow that vision to positively impact as many people as possible. He felt his purpose on this Earth was to help people, and he was set on making his mark.

Just a few years after James returned to the U.S., his life took an unexpected turn. While visiting family and friends in Greenville, NC, on June 30, 2009, a shooting downtown took the lives of two innocent men. Without any forensic or eyewitness evidence linking James to the crime, on July 4, 2009, he was arrested and charged with the double homicide. Despite his unwavering proclamations of innocence, the State and Prosecution ignored exculpatory evidence that would have cleared James of the murders. James was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences without parole and has now been wrongly incarcerated for almost 14 years. Up until his wrongful arrest, James had never been in trouble and had no criminal record. 

As he continues to fight his wrongful conviction, James is mentoring and advising individuals on the inside, trying to decrease the number of recidivists. "I never want to see someone go home and come back. No matter where I am or what adversity I face, it's my responsibility to help people. I want people to go out there and do better, so they can pay it forward and help others." - James Richardson.