Innocence Project

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After 'Big Wrong' Cleared by DNA, a Big Settlement

Robert DuBoise, freed in 2020 after 37 years behind bars, to be paid $14M by city of Tampa

(Newser) - A Florida man freed in 2020 from nearly four decades behind bars after DNA evidence cleared him of rape and murder will now receive monetary compensation for that time lost. The New York Times reports that on Thursday, the Tampa City Council unanimously OKed a $14 million settlement for Robert...

Innocence Project Takes on Notorious Wife-Killer Case

Scott Peterson is serving life sentence for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci

(Newser) - Scott Peterson, the California man convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son in December 2002, is now being represented by the Los Angeles Innocence Project. Peterson was originally sentenced to death, but he was resentenced to life without the possibility of parole after his death...

After 19 Years, Judge Throws Out Man's Murder Conviction

Marvin Haynes was 16 at time of Minneapolis killing

(Newser) - A 35-year-old man who was sent to prison for the 2004 killing of a man in a Minneapolis flower shop was released Monday after a judge ruled the eyewitness evidence on which his conviction rested was unreliable. Marvin Haynes, who was 16 at the time of the killing, was released...

He Spent 38 Years Imprisoned for a Murder He Didn't Commit

Maurice Hastings has now been declared innocent

(Newser) - Months after his release from prison, Maurice Hastings has been officially declared innocent by a judge. The Los Angeles man was wrongfully convicted of a 1983 murder, but was exonerated decades later by DNA evidence. The judge vacated Hastings' conviction in October when he was freed, but prosecutors and Hastings'...

Judge Vacates Conviction of Man Imprisoned for 28 Years

Lamar Johnson always said he didn't commit 1994 murder

(Newser) - A Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn't commit. Lamar Johnson, 50, closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as a member of his legal...

His Conviction Is Overturned After 4 Decades Behind Bars

Innocence Project helps Raymond Flanks win his freedom in New Orleans

(Newser) - A man who spent nearly four decades behind bars for a 1983 killing won his freedom Thursday after New Orleans prosecutors joined defense lawyers in asking to have his murder conviction overturned. Attorneys on both sides said evidence of inconsistencies in the only eyewitness’s testimony was kept from the...

Nearly 3 Decades Later, an Exoneration

Herman Williams' wrongful conviction for ex-wife's murder tore family apart

(Newser) - "Don't give up." That's the message from a man who was just exonerated of a first-degree murder conviction for which he spent almost 29 years in prison. Herman Williams left Illinois' Sheridan Correctional Center on Tuesday after the Lake County State's Attorney's Office acknowledged...

Judge Tosses Convictions of Two in Malcolm X Killing

New investigation cleared Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam

(Newser) - Update: A Manhattan judge on Thursday threw out the convictions of two men convicted of killing Malcolm X decades ago. Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam both wrongfully served years in prison before being released in the 1980s. A new investigation cleared the men, and even the admitted gunman says the...

Judge Balks at Retrial for Death Row's Rodney Reed

More than 20 witnesses implicated another man in 1996 murder in Texas

(Newser) - Update: A Texas judge says a death row inmate backed by celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna should not receive a new trial. The judge in Bastrop County said Rodney Reed—sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of a young woman—"has not proven by clear and...

After 45 Years in Prison for Murder, He's Acquitted at 83

'I've become free,' Isaiah Andrews says following ruling in wife's 1974 murder

(Newser) - Isaiah Andrews spent 45 years in prison after he was convicted of killing his wife in 1974. But "the guy was in prison for something he didn't do," a juror told Cleveland.com on Wednesday after the 83-year-old was acquitted of aggravated murder in a Cuyahoga County...

Innocent Man Freed After 15 Years Dies of COVID

Damon Thibodeaux had gotten his first shot of vaccine just days before contracting the virus

(Newser) - A man who spent a third of his life behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit has died of COVID just a few short years after his exoneration. After a nine-hour interrogation in 1996, 22-year-old Damon Thibodeaux confessed to killing his cousin Crystal Champagne and was convicted in...

Michigan Man Exonerated After 32 Years in Prison

Gilbert Poole's murder conviction was based on debunked bite mark evidence

(Newser) - A Michigan man was exonerated Wednesday after 32 years in prison when authorities agreed that he was wrongly convicted of a fatal stabbing in suburban Detroit based on faulty evidence, including a bite mark on the victim. For years, Gilbert Poole Jr. had challenged his first-degree murder conviction with expertise...

43 Years After He Was Jailed, Prosecutors Admit 'Error'
43 Years After
He Was Jailed,
Prosecutors
Admit 'Error'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 15, 2021 10:25 AM CDT

43 Years After He Was Jailed, Prosecutors Admit 'Error'

They say Kevin Strickland, who had an alibi, is innocent of 1978 murders

(Newser) - Kevin Strickland has spent two-thirds of his life—43 years—behind bars for a triple murder. The problem is he wasn't even at the scene, according to prosecutors in Kansas City. "This is a profound error we must correct now," Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said...

He Stole 2 Shirts From Saks, Spent 20 Years in Prison

Guy Frank was sentenced as a multiple offender

(Newser) - Guy Frank walked out of a Saks Fifth Avenue with two shirts he hadn't paid for in September 2000. On Friday, he walked out of a New Orleans prison a free man, having served 20 years for the crime. WDSU reports an arm of the Innocence Project New Orleans...

Judge Rejects DNA Test 13 Years After Execution

The Innocence Project backed the test, which would have been a first

(Newser) - A Memphis judge ruled on Monday that the daughter of a man executed 13 years ago for murder does not have the right to seek DNA testing in the case. Sedley Alley, April Alley's father, was executed in 2006 for the 1985 murder of Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins....

Supporters Turn to Governor and Courts as Execution Nears

Rodney Reed's team builds case that Stacey Stites' fiance killed her

(Newser) - The legal wheels are turning as Rodney Reed sits in a Texas prison, less than two weeks from his scheduled execution. New witnesses, he says, implicate the victim's fiance, Jimmy Fennell, in the rape and killing of Stacey Stites in 1996. An inmate says in an affidavit that Fennell...

Man Freed 17 Years After Real Shooter Confessed

John Miller spent 22 years in prison

(Newser) - A Philadelphia man who spent more than two decades behind bars for a murder he didn't commit is a free man—17 years after another man confessed to the crime. John Miller was released Wednesday after 22 years in prison, the AP reports. Surrounded by family outside the State...

Media Swarm as Amanda Knox Returns to Italy

She'll speak on 'trial by media' at Saturday conference

(Newser) - Amanda Knox is facing her fears . The former exchange student who was convicted, then acquitted, of killing roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007 stepped foot in that country Thursday for the first time since her release from prison eight years ago, per NBC News . The 31-year-old journalist will "...

They Said He Killed His Lover in 1998. They Got It Wrong

Horace Roberts is exonerated in the death of Terry Yvette Cheek

(Newser) - "It's a classic murder case, where you've got a husband, you've got a lover, and you've got a dead wife." One of those two men spent almost 20 years behind bars for the crime—and prosecutors now believe it was the wrong one. The...

Dog Saves Man From 50-Year Prison Sentence

Alleged victim claimed Oregon man killed her pup Lucy

(Newser) - The discovery of a black Lab named Lucy led to the unravelling of a criminal case Monday against an Oregon man who had begun serving a 50-year prison sentence. Joshua Horner, a plumber from the central Oregon town of Redmond, was convicted on April 12, 2017, of sexual abuse of...

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