wrongful conviction

Stories 141 - 160 | << Prev   Next >>

Exonerations Hit All-Time High

 Exonerations Hit All-Time High 
new study
Feb 4, 2014 7:35 AM CST

Exonerations Hit All-Time High

Prosecutors more willing to revisit cases, study says

(Newser) - More wrongfully convicted people were exonerated last year than ever before in the US, a study by two law schools behind the National Registry of Exonerations finds. Some 87 people were found to have been wrongfully convicted, compared to 83 in 2009, the study's previous high, per the New ...

Case Against Brooklyn 'Killer' Falls Apart 23 Years Later

David Ranta expected to be set free this week

(Newser) - David Ranta has been in prison since 1991 for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi in a high-profile city slaying. Ranta is now packing up his cell, however, because prosecutors plan to ask a judge this week to set him free, reports the New York Times . No physical evidence tied...

Woman on Death Row Has Conviction Overturned

Detective in case has history of perjury

(Newser) - Debra Milke has spent 22 years on death row for orchestrating the murder of her 4-year-old son, but the Arizona woman may be on the verge of freedom, after a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge overturned her conviction yesterday. Milke's roommate and a friend shot Milke's son...

4 Accused Killers Freed After Convictions Overturned

3 of the men were behind bars for 17 years, another for 23

(Newser) - Four New York men saw their murder convictions overturned and were released from prison yesterday in two unrelated cases, notes Daily Intel .
  • Michael Cosme, Devon Ayers, and Carlos Perez were behind bars for 17 years after being convicted of two murders in 1995. They had already been exonerated of killing
...

Judge Tosses 'Bewildering' Murder Conviction

Frees defendant after 23 years in prison

(Newser) - A federal judge yesterday overturned the decades-old murder conviction of a Brooklyn man, lambasting the trial judge's decisions as "incomprehensible," the jury's conclusion as "bewildering," the man's lawyers as "indolent and ill prepared," and the prosecutors as "overzealous and deceitful....

17 Years Later, 2 Wrongfully Convicted Finally Free

Eric Glisson's, Cathy Watkins' convictions overturned in 10 minutes

(Newser) - Finally, Eric Glisson and Cathy Watkins are truly free. Convicted of the 1995 murder of a taxi driver, Glisson and Watkins spent more than 17 years in jail. They were released last month while the district attorney looked into their claims of innocence (two gang members ultimately confessed to the...

Forensics From 10K Criminal Cases to Get New Review

Cases as far back as 1985 to get a second look by Justice Dept, FBI

(Newser) - The Justice Department and FBI have launched the FBI's biggest-ever post-conviction review, taking a second look at thousands of cases to determine whether defendants were wrongly convicted because of faulty forensic analysis. The review will examine all cases involving FBI Laboratory hair and fiber examiners going back to at...

No. of Wrongful Convictions Since 1989: More Than 2K
No. of Wrongful Convictions
Since 1989: More Than 2K
new registry
May 21, 2012 8:08 AM CDT

No. of Wrongful Convictions Since 1989: More Than 2K

New registry focuses on flaws in criminal justice system

(Newser) - Word of wrongful convictions pops into the news frequently, but a new registry puts a number on just how often: By its count, more than 2,000 people have been exonerated of serious crimes since 1989. The National Registry of Exonerations claims to be the largest database of its kind,...

How Texas Executed an Innocent Man
 How Texas 
 Executed an 
 Innocent Man 
NEW REPORT
May 15, 2012 8:56 AM CDT

How Texas Executed an Innocent Man

Carlos DeLuna allegedly took the fall for Carlos Hernandez

(Newser) - Carlos DeLuna was executed in 1989 for the murder of Wanda Lopez, but a 400-page article in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review asserts that Texas actually put the wrong man to death, while the real killer bragged about the murder and the fact that DeLuna took the fall. Lopez,...

FBI Evidence Screw-Ups Hidden in Hundreds of Cases
FBI Evidence Screw-Ups Hidden in Hundreds of Cases
investigation
Apr 17, 2012 7:58 AM CDT

FBI Evidence Screw-Ups Hidden in Hundreds of Cases

Some defendants left to rot in prison, or executed

(Newser) - Prosecutors have failed to notify hundreds of defendants and their attorneys about faulty FBI forensics work that may exonerate them, according to an in-depth Washington Post investigation. The Justice Department spent nine years—from 1996 to 2004—conducting what it calls an "exhaustive" review of 13 agents' forensic work...

Va. Clears Innocent Man of Rapes After 27 Years

Thomas Haynesworth never stopped fighting

(Newser) - For 27 years, Thomas Haynesworth sat in prison, learning auto mechanics, welding, and masonry … and fighting to clear his name. That fight paid off yesterday, when a Virginia appeals court declared him innocent, acknowledging that he did not commit the three rapes of which he was convicted in 1984....

Boxer, 52, Wins Debut After Years Wrongly Jailed

Dewey Bozella wins his 'first and last fight'

(Newser) - After 26 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, a 52-year-old boxer finally got his chance to go pro—and won his first fight. "I used to lay in my cell and dream about this happening," says Dewey Bozella. "It was all worth it....

DNA Test Frees Texas Man After 25 Years

Michael Morton was convicted of murdering his wife

(Newser) - Another inmate freed by DNA evidence: Michael Morton was formally exonerated today by a Texas appeals court for the murder of his wife in 1986, reports AP . Morton, 57, is eligible to get about $2 million from the state, or about $80,000 for each of the 25 years he...

Troy Davis: I Want to Take a Polygraph Test

In effort to save him, Georgia Democrats urge prison strike

(Newser) - Troy Davis is hours from death, but he’s not giving up. The Georgia death row inmate, who claims he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, wants to take a polygraph test. "Mr. Davis believes he is innocent and he wants to show it,"...

John Thompson, Wrongly Sent to Death Row for 14 Years, Doesn't Get His $14M in Damages
Guy Wrongly Sent to Death Row Loses $14M Award
supreme court
Mar 30, 2011 8:37 AM CDT

Guy Wrongly Sent to Death Row Loses $14M Award

DA not liable for mistakes of prosecutors, rules Supreme Court

(Newser) - John Thompson spent 14 years on death row after New Orleans prosecutors hid evidence that would have cleared him—but yesterday, a divided Supreme Court tossed out the $14 million in damages Thompson won in a civil suit against the DA. Clarence Thomas read the 5-4 decision, which found that...

Illinois to Ban Death Penalty

Gov. Quinn expected to sign repeal bill today

(Newser) - Capital punishment is facing its end in Illinois and a last-minute reprieve from the governor is highly unlikely. Pat Quinn is expected to sign legislation today abolishing the death penalty in the state, and abolition supporters have been invited to a private bill-signing ceremony, reports the Chicago Tribune . "They...

Convicts Win Right to Sue for DNA Testing

Supreme Court rules in favor of Texas death row inmate

(Newser) - Convicts can use a federal civil rights law to seek DNA testing of evidence, the Supreme Court decided yesterday. The court ruled in favor of Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner, who was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of his girlfriend and her two sons. Skinner—who was...

DNA Clears Texan Jailed for 30 Years

Cornelius Dupree Jr. wrongfully convicted of 1979 rape, robbery

(Newser) - A Texas man who spent 30 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit was cleared by a DNA test, and a Dallas County court is expected to exonerate him today. Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, was 20 years old when he was jailed in connection with a 1979 rape...

Doggedly Playing Lawyer, Inmate Overturns Conviction

New Yorker imprisoned for murder spends 15 years fighting case

(Newser) - A New York man was jailed for a decade and a half for a murder he maintained he didn’t commit—and finally, after years of legal work behind bars, he was vindicated. The Wall Street Journal tells the story of a feat “so unbelievably hard…that it's almost...

Did Students Famed for Freeing Inmates Commit a Crime?

David Protess, his Medill Innocence Project and its methods, under fire

(Newser) - Fame has followed Northwestern Professor David Protess for more than a decade: His Medill Innocence Project—which has eager students using their investigative journalism skills to help free the wrongfully convicted—has significantly altered Illinois' legal history, helping push then-Gov. George Ryan to halt executions. But the golden-child project has...

Stories 141 - 160 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser