At first, Zachary was skeptical about meeting.

Zachary, who killed Cameron

My first response was, “Why did they want to meet with me?” If that was my kid, there’s no way I could show my face in the courtroom because I’m probably going to kill him — kill the person who killed my kid. To be able to sit in a room and meet with someone who stole my son from me. …

Paul Freeman, victim’s father

He could be anybody’s son. I wanted to meet him. See what kind of person he was. And I wanted him to know who Cameron was. I wanted the world to know what they lost that day. I wanted Zachary Harrison to know.

Zachary

I was thinking, “What are they after?” It was more confusing than anything.

Shelley Freeman, victim’s mother

Cameron wasn’t perfect. He was a human being. And so was Zachary Harrison. I wanted some assurance this wasn’t going to happen to another family.

Zachary

Holly said they wanted to get to know me. I thought that was weird.

Holly Chavez, program coordinator

Everyone has a thing they want to know. They said they just wanted him to know who Cameron was.

Zachary

I remember telling my mom, “I just don’t see this happening.”

“It took awhile to break his wall down,” Ms. Chavez said.

After months of talking with Ms. Chavez, Zachary said it was her persistence and refusal to cast blame that ultimately persuaded him.

Zachary

She wasn’t there to point fingers or judge. She did actually care about me and my side of the story.

Mr. Freeman

When he said yes, it was, “Oh my God, hallelujah.”

Zachary

They had a lot of questions. They wanted to know what my plans were when I got out. They wanted to know about family support. Where would I stay? They wanted to know about how my rehabilitation was going and where I was headed when I got out. They had a few questions about that night, but it was more about where I was going.

Ms. Chavez

About halfway through, he was remorseful, human. The morning of the accident, he had been asked if he was remorseful, and he was not. Zachary felt he didn’t belong in prison because he didn’t remember anything.

The critical moment: Bringing everyone together.

Mr. Freeman

It was like a wedding. You question yourself: “Do I really want to do this?” Expectations, worries …

Mrs. Freeman

Two weeks before, I got physically sick. “Oh my, what am I doing?”

Zachary

I was ready, “Let’s just do this.” I didn’t care how I felt. I was tired of the meetings going over the same things.

Ms. Chavez

Up to the very end, he was saying, “Why do they want to do it?”

Zachary

I knew that day was going to suck. That day, I got nervous. I didn’t know what to expect.

Mrs. Freeman

I hadn’t prepared words. My first word was “Namaste” (a reference to the good she saw in Zachary).

Zachary

They started talking about Cameron and showing pictures and stuff. What kind of person he was. That’s what I was curious about, what kind of person he was.

Mrs. Freeman

We asked about his life.

Zachary

We had two different upbringings. You knew he was a fun guy. He had to be very smart, very outgoing, very fun, probably pretty witty.

Zachary

They asked me a few details about that night — what I could remember — and I really didn’t have anything for them … they asked about the family, my plans. …

Mrs. Freeman

He put his hands on the table and said, “I will never drink again.”

Zachary

We met for four or five hours. It was emotional. It was intense in there.

Mrs. Freeman