The heroic battle to free an innocent man. A family waiting 20 years for his return. A small town's dirty little secret.

In 1984, 19-year-old, openly gay Bernard Baran was accused of multiple counts of child molestation and rape during the American Day Care Panic of the 1980s and 1990s. His conviction in January 1985 was the first of the dozens or wrongful prosecutions in the panic. Unlike others, it received no national attention and remained unknown for a decade. It would take another 15 years to set him free.—Daniel Alexander