wrongful conviction

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

He Lost Everything While in Prison. Now He's a Millionaire

Wrongfully convicted Michael Sullivan is awarded $13M, though state law caps reward at $1M

(Newser) - For the nearly three decades that he was behind bars, Michael Sullivan's mother and four siblings died, his girlfriend moved on with her life, and he was badly beaten in several prison attacks. All for a murder he long insisted he never committed. Earlier this month, the 64-year-old Sullivan...

Fingers Pointed After Man Who Served 16 Years Is Cleared

Minnesota police, prosecutors ignored evidence indicating Edgar Barrientos-Quintana was innocent

(Newser) - A Minnesota man was released from prison after serving 16 years for a murder he did not commit, a local prosecutor announced Tuesday, per the AP . Jurors in 2009 found Edgar Barrientos-Quintana guilty of killing 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson in a drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison without...

Appeals Court Upholds Release of Woman Jailed 43 Years

Prosecutors have 10 days to refile charges against Sandra Hemme

(Newser) - An appellate court ruled Tuesday that a lower court was right when it decided to overturn the murder conviction of a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer. Sandra Hemme was freed in July while the...

Brothers Who Spent Decades in Jail Cleared of 1987 Murder

DNA evidence exonerates David and Robert Bintz

(Newser) - Sandra Lison was murdered at the bar in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she worked; her body was found near a trail in Oconto County's Machickanee Forest on August 4, 1987. The night before, David and Robert Bintz, now 69 and 68, had gone to the bar where Lison worked...

Missouri Judge Orders Release of Man Cleared but Not Freed

Court threatens prison warden with contempt if Christopher Dunn isn't out in hours

(Newser) - A Missouri judge on Wednesday ordered the release of a man who has spent more than 30 years in prison. St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser issued the order two days after he overturned Christopher Dunn's murder conviction. A state prison ignored a court order to release Dunn, saying...

Family of Teen Executed, Then Exonerated: 'They Need to Pay'

Alexander McClay Williams was exonerated of murder in 2022, nearly a century after he died

(Newser) - The family of the youngest person ever executed in the state of Pennsylvania—a Black 16-year-old sent to the electric chair in 1931 and exonerated by the governor in 2022—is suing the county that prosecuted him. Alexander McClay Williams was convicted of murder in the October 1930 icepick stabbing...

Amanda Knox Turns on Killer She Thought Was Innocent

Her deep dive in the 'Atlantic' details how her belief in Jens Soering's innocence slowly crumbled

(Newser) - Jens Soering is a double murderer now out on parole, convicted in 1990 of killing the parents of his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom, with Haysom's help. But during his more than three-decade stretch in prison before being released in 2019, the German national gained an infamous correspondent: Amanda Knox , who...

Prosecutors Hid Evidence in Convicting Mom of Murder

Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing her toddler, could now go free

(Newser) - The judge who presided over Melissa Lucio's 2008 murder trial following the death of her 2-year-old daughter now says the conviction should be thrown out. State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended on Friday that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Lucio's conviction and death sentence, in response...

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...

They Insisted They Were Framed. Now, Vindication
They Insisted They Were
Framed. Now, Vindication
LONGFORM
Feb 12, 2024 4:00 AM CST

They Insisted They Were Framed. Now, Vindication

Derek Ridgewell, deemed 'Britain's most corrupt cop,' is at center of cases of wrongly convicted men in UK

(Newser) - Nearly a dozen convictions in the UK have been overturned over the past few years, with one common denominator: They were all tied to arrests made by police officer Derek Ridgewell, dubbed "Britain's most corrupt cop" by Simon Hattenstone in the Guardian . The article centers on the convictions...

3 Decades Later, a Juror's Second Thoughts Set Him Free

'Texas Monthly' explains how Estella Ybarra never felt right about convicting Carlos Jaile

(Newser) - Stories of prisoners being set free years after a wrongful conviction are not highly unusual. But a story by Michael Hall at Texas Monthly has an incredible twist: It wasn't newly revealed DNA evidence that got Carlos Jaile out of prison after nearly three decades, it was a juror...

City 'Deeply Remorseful' Over Man's 44 Years in Prison to Pay $22M

Ronnie Long also got apology from city of Concord, North Carolina, as well as $3M more from state

(Newser) - A North Carolina man wrongfully imprisoned for more than four decades has been awarded a $25 million settlement from the city of Concord and the state. The payout for Ronnie Long, now 68, comes after he sat in prison for 44 years following a wrongful conviction for burglary and rape...

Kennedy Cousin, Now Exonerated, Is Suing

Michael Skakel wants lead investigator, Connecticut town of Greenwich to pay

(Newser) - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel , whose conviction in the 1970s murder of a Connecticut teen was overturned, is suing the lead police investigator and the town of Greenwich for alleged malicious prosecution, civil rights violations, and other claimed wrongdoing. Skakel, 63, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy,...

Judge: Man Who Spent 48 Years in Prison Is Innocent

Ruling allows Oklahoma man Glynn Simmons to sue for compensation

(Newser) - A 70-year-old Oklahoma man has been exonerated after spending more than 48 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit—longer than any other wrongfully convicted inmate in US history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations . Glynn Simmons was declared innocent by Judge Amy Palumbo of Oklahoma...

Inmate Convicted on Blind Man's Eyewitness Testimony Is Freed

Darien Harris released from prison after 12 years behind bars

(Newser) - Darien Harris is a free man, a dozen years after he was convicted of murder based largely on the eyewitness testimony of a man who'd been legally blind for more than a decade before testifying in the trial. Prosecutors originally said they'd retry Harris after a judge vacated...

He Wanted to Be a Cop, Ended Up Wrongfully Imprisoned

Brian Beals, 57, spent 35 years behind bars in 'egregious' case

(Newser) - A Chicago man who spent 35 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit was freed Tuesday after a judge vacated his conviction and dismissed all charges. Brian Beals, 57, struggled to find the right words to describe his feelings as he stood outside Robinson Correctional Center in...

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...

Army Aims to Rectify 'Largest Mass Execution' in Its History

More than a century later, soldier convictions related to the 1917 Houston riots are overturned

(Newser) - It was, as the Washington Post reports, "the largest mass execution carried out in the history of the US Army." On Dec. 11, 1917, 13 Buffalo Soldiers were hanged in a military camp near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The African American cavalry soldiers of the...

This Baltimore Settlement Is Maryland's Biggest Ever

City to pay $48 million to 3 men wrongfully convicted as teens who spent 36 years behind bars

(Newser) - In November 1983, 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett was fatally gunned down in Baltimore, and cops soon said they had their suspects: three other neighborhood teens, all 16, who were arrested on Thanksgiving Day and subsequently convicted of murder and sent to prison for life. That trio—Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and...

Pair Wrongfully Convicted of Murder to Get $25M Payout

Connecticut settlement involves forensic expert Henry Lee, accused of fabricating evidence

(Newser) - Connecticut's attorney general has agreed to a $25.2 million settlement with two men who spent decades in prison for murder, based partly on evidence presented by famed forensic scientist Henry Lee that a judge later found was fabricated. Ralph "Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted in...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>