wrongful conviction

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Exonerated Man Gunned Down at Funeral

Christopher Williams spent nearly 3 decades behind bars, 25 of them on death row

(Newser) - Christopher Williams spent a quarter-century on Pennsylvania's death row, wrongfully convicted of four murders, before being exonerated. He spent just 22 months free before he was fatally shot while attending a funeral Friday, NBC News reports. The 62-year-old was shot in the head at Philadelphia's Mount Peace Cemetery,...

Her Voter Fraud Conviction Caused Uproar. Now, She Sues

Pamela Moses accuses Tennessee, DA's office of wrongful conviction, humiliation

(Newser) - A Tennessee activist who received a six-year prison sentence for trying to register to vote while on felony probation is believed to be the first person to sue prosecutors after her case was thrown out, per the Guardian . Pamela Moses, convicted of illegal voter registration in November, was incarcerated for...

3 Exonerated After 28 Years as Prosecutors Point to Killer Cop

Ex-cop Len Davis, now on death row, covered up crimes by his drug dealer associates

(Newser) - Three men imprisoned for 28 years were wrongfully convicted of murder in a 1994 drive-by shooting, now linked to two former police officers who happened to arrive on the scene before the lone eyewitness even finished calling 911, a New Orleans court heard Wednesday. Bernell Juluke, Kunta Gable, and Leroy...

All Charges Dropped Against Adnan Syed

There will be no retrial for 'Serial' star, who served 23 years for ex Hae Min Lee's murder

(Newser) - After Adnan Syed's murder conviction was overturned , Sarah Koenig, the one-time host of the Serial podcast that made his case famous, noted the chance of him facing a retrial was slim . Now it's zero, according to TMZ . The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office on Tuesday dropped...

Convicted Pedophile Clears His Name—3 Years After Death

New Zealand Supreme Court overturns 1993 child sex abuse conviction of Peter Ellis

(Newser) - Peter Ellis, a former day-care teacher convicted of 16 counts of child sexual abuse in New Zealand in 1993, maintained his innocence until his 2019 death from bladder cancer. Usually one's death marks the end of their criminal appeal. But not in this case. New Zealand's Supreme Court...

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...

Prisoner Convicted at 17 Exonerated 36 Years Later

Sullivan Walter freed after judge vacates conviction for New Orleans rape

(Newser) - A Black man wrongfully convicted as a teenager for a New Orleans rape more than 36 years ago was ordered freed after a judge threw out his conviction. Sullivan Walter, now 53, used a handkerchief to wipe away tears as a state district judge formally vacated his conviction for a...

Man in Prison for 31 Years Finds Savior in Novice Attorney

Natlie Figgers, out of law school just 2 years, helps free wrongly convicted Thomas Raynard James

(Newser) - It started with a murder in Miami, a crime that sent Thomas Raynard James to prison for more than three decades. In April, however, a judge vacated James' conviction and set him free, thanks to the efforts of an attorney just two years out of law school who was determined...

Man Wins $10.5M Decades After Being Allegedly Framed

Shawn Williams spent 24 years in prison

(Newser) - A woman said she saw Shawn Williams with a gun at the scene in Brooklyn, NY, where his neighbor was shot to death in July 1993. The 19-year-old denied that he'd pulled the trigger. In fact, he denied that he was even in the state. It didn't matter....

They Spent 25 Years in Prison. The Real Killer Was the Man Who Sent Them There

Michigan brothers freed after new evidence against witness surfaces

(Newser) - Two brothers from Pontiac, Michigan, are free men after spending 25 years in state prisons for a murder they did not commit. George DeJesus, 44, and Melvin DeJesus, 48 were found guilty in 1997 of the murder of family friend Margaret Midkiff after a jury believed testimony from the man...

Wrongfully Imprisoned Man Sues for $93M

Lamonte McIntyre, whose mother says detective coerced her into sex, served 23 years

(Newser) - A Kansas man who served 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit is seeking $93 million in damages from the county where he was convicted and a former detective he says framed him. Lamonte McIntyre, 45, and his mother allege in a lawsuit filed in...

The Case of Hamid Hayat vs. America's Post-9/11 Fears

Hamid Hayat ended up serving 14 years

(Newser) - "I have no ill feelings, no grudges, no anger in me. I just don’t want this to happen to anybody ever again," Hamid Hayat tells Jason Fagone, who writes at length about what Hayat has been through for the San Francisco Chronicle. Born in Lodi, California, to...

Sebold Apologizes After Rape Conviction Overturned

'I know that no apology can change what happened to you and never will'

(Newser) - Alice Sebold has apologized for her role in ruining a young Black man's life 40 years ago. The author of The Lovely Bones issued a public apology Tuesday to Anthony Broadwater Jr., who spent 16 years in prison after Sebold saw him on a street in Syracuse and told...

Wrongfully Jailed at 18, He's Now a Millionaire

Kevin Strickland has always maintained his innocence in 1978 murders

(Newser) - Update: Missouri man Kevin Strickland may finally have his freedom after being wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years, but what he didn't have, at least initially, was money. CNN explains that under state law, only those who were exonerated due to DNA testing are eligible to receive imprisonment payments. DNA...

He Witnessed a Murder, Then Knowingly Lied on Stand

'New Yorker' follows up on case of trio who wrongfully spent 36 years behind bars

(Newser) - The story made headlines a few years ago : Three men were freed from prison after serving 36 years for a Baltimore murder they didn't commit. At the New Yorker , Jennifer Gonnerman provides an in-depth look at what happened from a unique perspective—that of one of the young witnesses...

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...

2 Men Go Free 30 Years After Wrongful Convictions

Carlton Roman, Christopher Ellis were released this week in New York City

(Newser) - Two Black men from New York City who each spent more than 30 years in prison for murder were freed Monday after state judges found their convictions were unjust. "I'm not the only innocent person in there," Carlton Roman said, per the New York Times , following his...

This Is the First State to Ban Cops From Lying to Minors During Questioning

Illinois law bans interrogation techniques linked to false confessions

(Newser) - After hours of interrogation in 1995, police in Chicago told 17-year-old Terrill Swift he could go home if he admitted being present at the scene of a rape and murder. He went home 17 years later after he was exonerated by DNA evidence. Illinois has now become the first state...

Brothers Who Were on Death Row Awarded $75M

Henry McCollum, Leon Brown were wrongfully convicted in 1983 rape and murder of girl

(Newser) - A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75 million to two Black, intellectually disabled half brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. The eight-person jury on Friday decided Henry McCollum and Leon...

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