One small detail in a ‘MythBusters’ episode helped free innocent man wrongly imprisoned for 35 years

Arson and murder carry serious consequences, often resulting in heavy prison sentences. In September 1986, 18-year-old John Galvan's life was upended when he was wrongfully convicted of arson and murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, 21 years into his sentence, he stumbled upon a "MythBusters" episode on Discovery Channel that helped him prove his innocence, according to IFLScience.

It began when a fire broke out in a Chicago apartment building, resulting in the deaths of two brothers, Guadalupe and Julio Martinez. Their siblings, Blanca and Jorge Martinez, escaped the fire and told police that a neighborhood woman had threatened to burn down the building in revenge for her brother's death.

When police questioned the woman, she denied involvement and blamed John. Neighbors also blamed John, his brother, and Arthur Almendarez, John's neighbor. Interestingly, John was asleep at his grandmother's the night of the fire, and no evidence indicated his involvement, yet police arrested him, his brother, and Mr. Almendarez and his brother.

The situation worsened when lead detective Victor Switski used deceptive tactics and brute force to get John and Mr. Almendarez to sign fabricated confessions. The confession claimed that John, Mr. Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez (his brother-in-law) started the fire by throwing a gasoline-filled bottle at the building and tossing a cigarette into the pool of gasoline to ignite it. They were later convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated arson, leading to life imprisonment without parole.

However, at age 39, John was watching a rerun of "MythBusters" when he saw an episode proving that one couldn’t ignite a pool of gasoline with a lit cigarette - his key to freedom. In "MythBusters," hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage debunk Hollywood myths by recreating scenes from movies scientifically. John was instantly intrigued when they tried to use a cigarette to light a pool of gasoline. The experiment's failure prompted him to take steps to prove his innocence.

He immediately contacted his lawyer, Tara Thompson, to tell her about the episode. “Once I saw it, I couldn’t wait to tell Tara,” he said, per Innocence Project. After talking to John, Thompson was left speechless and realized the need to further investigate the arson science aspect of his case. "As a lawyer, it made me realize that there are things you have to look deeper into—you can’t assume that you understand the science until you’ve looked into it," she said. 

The show’s findings were confirmed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The bureau made more than 2,000 attempts to ignite gasoline with a cigarette, all of which failed. However, it took more than a decade for Thompson to finally present their findings to the court. In 2017, they provided seven witnesses who attested to being tortured by Switski, the detective who had interrogated John. They also presented an arson expert who testified that John's confession statement was scientifically impossible.

It took another five years for them to get their convictions vacated. In 2022, all three were finally exonerated after spending 35 years in the prison cell for a crime they did not commit. After being released, they took time to adjust to the freedom as an adult outside prison walls. "It’s been hard, I feel out of place, there’s a lot to learn and I don’t know where I’m supposed to be … I don’t know what to do," John said.