On Thursday, March 16, 2001, Kenneth Water, 46 years old, saw a cell phone for the first time, drank his first cup of Starbucks coffee, and ate his first corned beef sandwich in two decades. Waters had just emerged from 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. His murder conviction had been vacated by newly tested DNA evidence.
And how was it that Waters was freed? It was because of his sister Betty’s unrelenting efforts. From the very beginning she was convinced that Kenneth was not guilty of murder. At the time she was a young mother of two children.
She hadn’t finished high school, so she went back to school, finished her high school education, went on to college, and then to law school and ultimately became her brother’s attorney. She “waged an extraordinary legal battle that led to Kenneth’s release.” Through the checking of DNA, it was proven that Kenneth Water was not guilty of the murder of Katharina Brow.
Betty Anne’s commitment to proving her brother’s innocence is astonishing. By the time she walked out of the courthouse on March 16, 2001, she had spent 18 years in unbroken service to him.
The only thing that could have made Betty do this for her brother was unconditional love. If a woman could love her brother this much you can just imagine how much God loves us! Receive the Father’s love afresh.
