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Wrongly convicted of murder, Juan Rivera uses settlement money to open a barber college with his former prison guard.

Juan Rivera was fighting for his freedom from Stateville Correctional Center — serving a sentence for a rape and murder he didn’t commit — when he began to consider what his life would look like were he to be exonerated.

Before Rivera’s court appearances, he would go to the prison’s barber shop for a fresh cut. There, he struck up a relationship with prison guard and barber shop coordinator Bobby Mattison. As Rivera worked to clear his name, Mattison helped Rivera get his barber’s license and they talked about opening a barber school together.

Rivera’s conviction was overturned in 2012, marking a stunning end to one of the most infamous Chicago-area wrongful prosecution cases and leading to an unprecedented financial settlement. Nearly a decade later, he and Mattison are making good on their long-held dream, opening Legacy Barber College in April in Rogers Park.

Legacy, 1546 W. Howard St., seeks to give people caught up in the justice system and others a path toward a successful career and life.

“This started, believe it or not, in prison,” Rivera said. “I saw a need. We want to help the less fortunate. Because once they get out, they usually have nothing to fall back on.”

Rivera, now 48, was convicted three separate times in the 1992 rape and stabbing of 11-year-old Holly Staker in suburban Waukegan. Each time, those guilty verdicts were overturned.

Rivera was exonerated for the final time in late 2011. An Illinois appellate court reversed his final conviction and barred Lake County prosecutors from trying Rivera again, allowing him to go free in January 2012 after nearly 20 years behind bars...Read More