Undisputed women’s middleweight champion Claressa Shields is one of the most influential figures not only in women’s boxing but boxing as a whole. The former two-time Olympian has always been an advocate for bringing on social change and is not afraid to speak up against injustices happening around her. This can be seen in her interviews where she speaks about women’s empowerment and the importance of racial equality in the sport.

Thus, it was no surprise when she decided to speak up for a man who was wrongfully convicted of a crime. Moreover, he even spent twenty-one years in prison for this and was just recently released after his innocence was proven in court. In addition, the victim received a compensation of $1.3 million dollars which prompted a justified reaction from the undisputed champion.

Claressa Shields speaks up for a man who spent 21 years in prison after being wrongly convicted

Shields replied to the story broken out by the publication Daily Loud. The publication revealed that the crime the person was sentenced for was not even committed by anyone and received over a million dollars for his troubles. Despite this, Shields claimed that this amount of money was certainly not enough for the pain and trauma the person had to go through. “1.3 million ain’t enough!!!!!!” she wrote.

Shields does have a point here as 21 years of a man’s life cannot be valued by money. Moreover, this only gives us an insight into how sometimes wrong convictions can cause a person’s life to be shredded into pieces. In addition, according to Shields, giving out large sums of money is not part of the solution to this problem.

A look into how the man from Ohio was wrongfully convicted

According to Fox News, Ralph Blaine Smith was sentenced to prison back in 2000 he was 24. He was charged with an alleged armed home invasion and robbery in Pickerington. However, Smith’s attorney Joseph Landusky revealed that Smith’s first attorney didn’t give out enough evidence to prove his innocence.

“He was sentenced to 67 years in prison for a crime that was not even committed by anyone. When first responders showed up, there were no footprints in the snow. It had recently snowed. There was a dog barking right next door when they pulled up, the neighbors said no dog had barked in the last hour,” he said.

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Despite this, Smith would be released in 2021 after serving more than two decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He naturally became emotional and burst out in tears of both joy and agony after he was released.

What did you think about Shield’s response to the settlement offer for the victim? Let us know in the comments.

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