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July 2, 2025 11 mins

Have you ever wondered if your darkest moments might actually be redirecting you toward your greatest purpose? That's the profound revelation I experienced after discovering that the crime I served 5.5 years in prison for—a crime I didn't commit—could have been cleared from my record.

The perpetrator actually confessed to police. Witnesses from the party knew I was innocent but remained silent. The justice system had no interest in correcting their mistake. Learning these truths could have crushed me with bitterness and regret. Instead, it confirmed what I already knew deep down: that wrongful conviction saved my life.

Before prison, I was on a self-destructive path of addiction and emptiness. Those years behind bars forced me to confront my demons, find sobriety, and discover my true purpose. I used every single day of my incarceration to rebuild myself from the ground up. The transformation wasn't comfortable—it required facing trauma, addiction, and regret—but it awakened something powerful within me that continues to guide my life today.

So many of us resist the challenging paths we're being guided toward, fighting against difficulties rather than recognizing them as essential parts of our journey. What if you surrendered to that inner voice calling you toward something greater? What if you stopped running from pain and instead moved through it? The person you're meant to become exists on the other side of those fears and challenges.

Ready to wake up to your true potential? Listen to this episode to discover how accepting your path—even when it seems unfair or painful—might be the key to creating the exceptional life you've always wanted. Your darkest moment could be preparing you for your greatest purpose.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the craziest thing about life and this is how
you know that God's plan is somuch bigger than yours.
If I had not gone to prison, Iwould be dead.
It was the scariest thing I'veever gone through, but it woke
me up.
See, a lot of you guys arewalking around, but you're
sleeping.
You're sleeping on your goals,your truth, your purpose, and I
just realized, gosh man, god hasa massive plan for me.
God has a plan for me.

(00:32):
I went through all that just sothat I could get myself right.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Unstoppable Mindset
Podcast.
I'm your host, sean Crane, andI got some breaking news for you
guys.
I got some breaking newspertaining to my incarceration
and my time in prison.
My entire case could have beenexonerated, my name could have
been cleared.
I could have actually walkedout of that jail a free man,
never gone to prison, notserving five and a half years,

(00:55):
not having my picture on thefront page of the news press,
not having my name smutted up,not having people think that my
life was over, not being put inthat horrible environment.
But you know what?
I wouldn't be here today.
This is the craziest thingabout life and this is how you
know that God's plan is so muchbigger than yours.
If I had not gone to prison, Iwould be dead.

(01:16):
I wouldn't have my family, Iwouldn't be here talking to you
guys, I definitely wouldn't havesobriety, I'd have nothing.
I wouldn't have sobriety.
I'd have nothing.
I wouldn't have the inner peacein my heart that I have.
I wouldn't be as driven andmotivated as I am.
I wouldn't even be here.
If I was lucky enough to bealive at this point, I would be
a deadbeat.
I'd be addicted to drugs andalcohol, I'd have so much

(01:36):
suppressed pain and trauma thatI hadn't dealt with, and I don't
even know who I would havebecome.
I don't even want to ever thinkof that or envision what it
would have been like to meetthat version of me by now.
But I know that I would havebeen dead and I know God spared
my life.
But how crazy is this?
So I never really shared thispublicly, but about two years
ago, the individual whocommitted the crimes that I went

(01:57):
to prison for he was actuallyin prison too, and he got out
and he sent me a message onFacebook messenger and he said
hey, man just got out and hesent me a message on Facebook
Messenger and he said hey, man,just got out of prison.
I'm not supposed to be talkingto you, but I want you to know
that I'm going to go down to thepolice department and tell them
that you were innocent of thecrime that you went to prison
for.
He goes I know you already didthe time, but at the very least,
maybe they could exonerate yourname and you can get your name

(02:19):
cleared from that stuff, because, if you don't know, I went to
prison for five and a half yearsstemming from an assault with a
deadly weapon uh, in what?
2011?
From a party at a fight whereguys brought knives to a fist
fight and I was there watchingit and I got brought into this
melee and it looked horrible.
I had blood all over my shirt.
I was seen wrestling aroundwith guys that were stabbed and

(02:40):
everyone at the party told thecops that they saw me fighting
with a guy that almost died.
So the cops came looking for meand the next day with AR-15s,
arrested me, booked me into thecounty jail for attempt to
murder and for eight months Ifought my case, ended up being
sentenced to seven years inprison and I ended up doing five
and a half.
That time in prison changed mylife drastically.

(03:01):
It helped me to get sober,helped me to get clear on my
goals, my true purpose, committo a path of excellence, and I
used every day in prison torebuild my life.
I didn't miss a day.
I did not miss one day and I'mhere today because of the
choices I made going throughthose circumstances.
It was the scariest thing I'veever gone through, but it woke
me up.
See, a lot of you guys arewalking around, but you're

(03:22):
sleeping.
You're sleeping on your goals,your truth, your purpose.
You don't feel it.
You're just going through themotions.
That was me for many years.
But going to prison andthinking my life was over woke
me up.
Okay, now, when I got out, Istarted rebuilding my life and I
just put everything behind meand my mindset was that I'm
going to show the world who Itruly am.
I'm going to show people in mycommunity, people on social

(03:42):
media, my family, my friends,everybody, my true self through
my daily actions.
That was all I cared about andthat's all I focused on.
So then, about two years ago,I'd already been out, three,
four years, five years.
At this point, I get a messagefrom the individual who
committed the crimes I went toprison for, and he said hey, I'm
going to go down to the policestation and I'm going to tell
them that I did it and that youwere innocent.

(04:02):
So he did that.
He went down, spoke to a policeofficer, they put him in a
police car while they weretalking to him, said that they
had the audio recording of himconfessing, committing the
crimes that I was accused of andsentenced to prison for, and
actually spoke through FacebookMessenger to the police officer
that interviewed him.
But he got spooked.
Once I started asking himquestions about the situation

(04:24):
and if he was going to bring theinformation to the DA and if he
could kind of speak up on mybehalf.
He told me that he was actuallygoing to quit the police
department.
He had been burnt out on beinga police officer and going to
the fire department.
And shortly after that heblocked me on Facebook Messenger
and his last message was thatman, I don't want to get
involved in this, I'm moving onin my life Like you guys handle

(04:49):
that.
And so at that point I waspretty discouraged.
I went down to the policestation in Santa Barbara and
what I was told is the districtattorney didn't want to reopen
the case because, you know,there wasn't enough evidence.
And the crazy thing is, yeah,like it wouldn't have got any of
my life back or my time back,but it would have been really
cool for the district attorneyand the police department to
admit that they had falselyarrested me and accused me of a

(05:11):
crime I didn't commit and admit,that new evidence had come out
that proclaimed and showcased myinnocence.
Like that would have feltreally good, right.
But they're not in the businessof admitting when they make
mistakes unless there's so muchtangible evidence I'm talking
about, like DNA evidence,eyewitness testimony, like there
has to be an overwhelmingamount of evidence for them to
go back and overturn aconviction.

(05:32):
And something else recentlyhappened too.
I met an individual and shetold me her boyfriend knew who I
was and I was like, okay, well,that's interesting, like what
about it?
You know?
And I'd actually given her acopy of my book because we had a
lot in common I wanted to sharemy story with her and she came
to me the next day and she saidyeah, my boyfriend was actually

(05:52):
at that party and he's the onethat held the victim, you know,
held him up so that he didn'tbleed out.
And the cops got there and hewas covered in blood and he
knows that you didn't commit thecrime.
And I'm like, well, so he washolding the victim and he knew I
didn't commit the crime.
Why didn't he say anything?
Back then?

(06:12):
I come to find out all of thesepeople at the party knew the
truth.
All these individuals I'mtalking about dozens of
individuals knew that I didn'tcommit the crime that I went to
prison for.
And I started thinking, goshman, you know, there's a saying
that people speak often, it'strue Like a poor man's felony is
a rich man's misdemeanor.
And I started thinking aboutthat.

(06:32):
I'm like, damn, if I would havehad the money back then to hire
lawyers and I would have takenmy case to trial, I would have
beat it.
There was so much evidence thatwas just wishy-washy right,
just stuff that was written inthe police report that wasn't
true.
People that said I didsomething that I did not do,
that on the stand could havebeen cross-examined and easily
created doubt in the eyes of thejurors if not had them admit

(06:53):
that they were lying or thatthey didn't know and the police
report was actually fictitious.
I start playing these scenariosin my head.
I'm like damn, all these peopleat the party knew I was
innocent.
The guy who actually committedthe crime went to the police
station and told them he did itand nobody wants to overturn my
case right or look into it andoverturn my charges.
And so I went through thatinner dialogue for like a day,

(07:14):
almost feeling frustrated.
But Then I realized, man, likeI literally would not be here
today if I had not gone throughthat situation.
And it's the craziest situation, like at a party, they're
drinking, socializing, a fightbreaks out.
The next day I'm charged withan attempted murder.
I didn't do Like.
It's something that you read ina book or you see in a movie.

(07:36):
It's freaking crazy, all thelittle details that led up to me
being accused of that crime andconvicted, you know.
And I just realized gosh, man,god has a massive plan for me.
God has a plan for me.
I went through all that just sothat I could get myself right.
Had I not gone to prison andfaced life in prison and been in
that situation, I wouldn't havegotten sober, I wouldn't have

(07:57):
this second chance, I wouldn'thave found this purpose inside
of me, I wouldn't have thisbeautiful family and this life
that I always wanted.
I wouldn't change a thing.
And imagine how crazy is thatto look back on five and a half
years in prison, my picture onthe front page of the news press
, all the stuff I had to gothrough, man, most people that
hear my story don't even fathomthe pain, the loneliness, the

(08:19):
emotions that I had to battleduring that time.
But I'm a stronger, better man,with more faith and more
conviction because of that.
And here's the thing, two things.
The person you want to be is onthe other end of all that fear,
all those excuses, all thatpain that you're trying to avoid
.
You have to evolve and morphinto that person you want to be,

(08:40):
and it's not easy, it's notcomfortable, it's painful, it's
scary.
It's all those emotions thatyou're running from.
You have to face them.
You have to grow through them.
That's what I had to do.
I had to face trauma from myyouth.
I had to get sober.
I had to face, you know, thepain involved in my choices in
life and who I had become, andthat regret and all that stuff.
I had to feel it in order toget this fire lit inside of me

(09:03):
to then go off and create theperson I am today.
Right, so that's the firstthing.
The second thing is if you'requestioning stuff, if you're
always trying to make it workyour way, if you're resisting
that path that you're beingpushed to go down in life, what
you're doing is you're goingagainst God's plan for you.
God has a purpose for each andevery one of you.
I'm living proof.
I don't know what your purposeis.

(09:23):
I don't know what your path is,but I do know that a lot of
people resist it.
They fight it In their heart.
They know who they want to be,but they keep making decisions
to get them off track.
They keep making decisions tosabotage themselves.
What would happen if you justlet go and trust and believe in
that path?
What if you just surrenderedyour will and all the stuff you
think you need and you want andyou just said these are the pure

(09:44):
thoughts I'm having.
This is the feeling in my heartof who I want to be Like.
There's just something therethat you know you need to pursue
.
What if you gave into thatvoice and just let it guide you?
Imagine where your life wouldgo.
That's what happened to me,it's been 13.
Control it, but I need to gowith it.
I need to find out where thisjourney leads me to, and it led

(10:06):
me to the most beautiful fuckingplace I could ever imagine.
It's a place I always wanted tobe, but it's more beautiful
than I ever thought.
And so you guys yeah, I couldhave my name exonerated, my case
and all that stuff overturned.
I could have maybe theIndependent or the Santa Barbara
News Press write up an articleabout how new evidence has
emerged and Sean Crain isactually innocent and the whole

(10:27):
world would actually know.
But you know what?
That doesn't matter to me andthat's not what I want.
You know, what matters to me isthat I'm living out God's
purpose for my life and I'mbeing a good human being.
I'm here to take care of myfamily and I'm being the best
leader for my children.
I'm being the best husband formy wife.
I'm being a leader here onsocial media, sharing the truth
through content, through myexample.
Each and every day, I'm helpingmen to take control of their

(10:47):
lives, to get sober, toeradicate those demons up here,
to be better men for theirfamilies.
There's a massive ripple effecttaking place, and so I wouldn't
change a thing.
I would not change a thing.
And it's crazy to get to aposition where you can go
through so much bad but thenlook back and go.
I wouldn't change it.
And some of you are in the midstof that right now and you don't
realize it.
You went through a breakup.
You're struggling with sobriety, trying to find your path.

(11:09):
You'll look back one day onthese moments that felt like
they were meaningless or thatthey were despairing or they're
working against you, and you'llrealize this is a part of a
bigger picture, a bigger planthat God has in store for you.
If you have that mindset, ifyou know that God is guiding you
on a path that you always tellyourself this is part of God's
plan.
This is part of God's plan andyou do your best each and every
day best attitude, best effort.

(11:29):
You don't cut corners, youdon't make excuses.
You do your part.
I promise you're going tocreate an exceptional life for
yourself, just like I've beenable to.
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