[1] Although disputed by some family members, Yarris has stated he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child at the hands of another youth, which led him into addiction to alcohol, drugs and the commission of petty crime in his teens.

[3] While in jail, facing a possible sentence of life in prison, he spotted a newspaper article about the December 16, 1981, murder and rape of Linda Mae Craig, who had been abducted from a Delaware shopping center but whose body had been found in Pennsylvania.

[8][9] In 2003, with the aid of a team of court-appointed lawyers (including Christina Swarns,[10] later to become Executive Director of the national Innocence Project[11]), a third round of DNA testing (following prior inconclusive efforts) proved that two unidentified men, not Yarris, had committed the crime.

[1] Following his exoneration and release, Yarris protested once a week outside the District Attorney's Office, demanding that the DNA samples be submitted to the FBI database to find Craig's real rapists and killers.

[20][21] He has also self-published books titled The Kindness Approach (2017),[22] My Journey Through Her Eyes (2017), Monsters and Madmen (2018) (experiences on death row at the since-decommissioned SCI Pittsburgh), and Mind Your Heart, Nick Yarris (2024) (a memoir of the 20 years since his exoneration).

[30] An extended interview, edited to highlight Yarris's talent as a first-person storyteller, appeared in February 2023 on filmmaker and photographer Mark Laita's widely-watched YouTube channel, Soft White Underbelly.

[31] A stage play based on the Sington documentary, written by Lindsey Ferrentino and starring Adrien Brody as Yarris, opened in October 2024 at the Donmar Warehouse in London.