THORNVILLE, Ohio -- Clarence Elkins eases back in his chair. A weary peace covers his youthful face as he recollects his struggles and the wild ride that won't stop.
There was his arrest in June 1998 for the horrific slaying of his mother-in-law, Judith Johnson, and the equally disturbing beating and sexual assault that same night of his tiny 6-year-old niece.
There's the capital murder trial that followed in Summit County, where his niece took the witness stand and swore, "Uncle Clarence did it" to her and her grandmother. It was the little girl's testimony that put Elkins in prison to serve a life sentence. There was scant other "evidence" and certainly no DNA connecting him to that gruesome Barberton crime scene.
Over the next seven-plus years, Elkins and his wife, Melinda, along with a battery of attorneys worked to prove his innocence. In the end, a miracle in the form of a crushed out cigarette, smoked by fellow inmate ushered Elkins to freedom. He left prison Dec. 15, 2005.
But his days inside a courtroom are not over. He's set to go to trial next month in Stark County Common Pleas Court, where he's suing Community Services of Stark County, alleging the agency violated his privacy by releasing his medical and psychological records to the IRS. The tax agency sought his records for use in a civil case involving Elkins' now-former wife, Melinda Dawson.
"I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting," Elkins, 52, said in an interview inside his home. "I'm tired of battling legal problems I didn't ask for...I'm exhausted from all of it."
Elkins' case as a wrongfully convicted inmate garnered international attention after his niece recanted her identification. She would tell Elkins' attorneys that she believes police detectives and counselors coached her testimony in an effort to convict Elkins.
Her recantation in 2002 was not enough to win Elkins' release.
A newspaper article from around that same time, however, caught the attention of Melinda Elkins, who was working tirelessly to find her mother's true killer and prove Elkins' innocence.
The article contained details about the arrest of Earl Mann, a former next-door neighbor to her mother. Miraculously, Mann had been placed in the same cell block as Elkins. And eventually, the two inmates talked during walks in the Mansfield prison yard.
"Every now and then [Mann] would say, 'You can't be guilty. You don't look like that kind of person'," Elkins recalled. "And I'm thinking, you know damn well that I'm innocent, too. You did it."
Elkins eventually worked up the nerve and picked up one of Mann's discarded cigarettes. He carefully avoided touching it as he placed the hand-rolled cigarette in a plastic sandwich bag. It took a month before he even mailed it off to his attorney.
"I didn't think a cigarette butt would be that concrete. I really didn't," he said. "I mean, what are the odds?"
His attorneys, which by now included the Ohio Innocence Project, had the cigarette butt examined and Mann's DNA was lifted. It was then compared to DNA from the crime scene. Elkins would be home for Christmas. Mann would later plead guilty to the murder and rape. He is serving a life sentence.
"It brings back a lot of memories around the anniversary time," Elkins said. "It feels like it was yesterday at times."
On Tuesday, the Innocence Project marked the 10th anniversary of Elkins' release.
"Clarence is the first and only [exonerated inmate] anywhere who actually helped prove his own innocence and simultaneously solve the crime all while still in prison," the organization wrote on its Facebook page. "Clarence has a special place in the OIP's heart for many reasons. Not only is he an inspiration for how he handled his ordeal, but once released, he has dedicated his life to fighting wrongful convictions."
Prison, Elkins said, was a daily struggle. His first stop was in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, considered one of the state's toughest prisons. It was even harder for inmates like Elkins, convicted of killing an elderly woman and raping a small child.
"They're probably the worst charges a person could ever have on them," he said.
Elkins said he was threatened, but never assaulted by fellow inmates. Instead, he found himself in solitary confinement as he first adjusted to life in prison as an innocent man.
"I believe I had a mental breakdown a month after I was there. It was very frightening. Very scary," he said. "Just all the loud noises and loud, violent talking, speaking 24-7. And I'm like, where am I? What happened in my life?"
Elkins said he relied on prayer to cope. And he soon began ministering to other inmates.
Since his release, he has collected about $6 million in damages from the state and the City of Barberton. He has shared that money with his lawyers, his two adult sons and his former wife, Melinda. The couple divorced shortly after Elkins' release from prison.
In 2009, he met and later married his wife, Molly. Together they are building a new home and new life.
"I want him to be at peace," said Molly Elkins. "I want him to be happy because that's what he deserves. After everything he's been through, it's just time for Clarence to be happy."
In his spare time, Elkins enjoys hunting, fishing and boating and spending time around his home, which is still being built on an 8-acre lot about 30 minutes outside Columbus. He continues to minister others.
"I look back on that now and I'm like, incredible. Incredible, that I had the strength and the peace to hold myself together and fight this," Elkins said.
