wrongful conviction

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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...

43 Years After He Was Jailed, Prosecutors Admit &#39;Error&#39;
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...

Walter Forbes Was Framed. 38 Years Later, He's Free

Michigan man's 1983 murder conviction thrown out after witness says she lied

(Newser) - Walter Forbes was in his 20s when he was sent to prison for murder. At age 63, he was told his conviction had been thrown out. It was like watching a "vision unfold," the Michigan man tells CNN . Still, "it's pretty sad that it took 38...

'It Did Not Add Up,' and 15 Years Later, He's Free

Joseph Webster's murder conviction overturned

(Newser) - A Tennessee man has been reunited with family after serving almost 15 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Joseph Webster's attorney, Daniel Horwitz, has spent the past four years reinvestigating the 1998 slaying of Leroy Owens and shared his findings with WZTV . "We interviewed...

'I've Rarely Seen a Case as Bad as Ronnie Long's'

Wrongfully convicted man was released from prison after 44 years

(Newser) - In August, Ronnie Long walked out of prison and into the record books in the number 3 slot on the list of Americans who've served the longest sentences for crimes they didn't commit. In Long's case, it was 44 years for the 1976 rape of 54-year-old widow...

She Got Life in Prison— Until Racist Emails Emerged

Frances Choy was convicted of killing her parents

(Newser) - An Asian American woman who spent 17 years in prison is going free partly because of racist emails about her, BuzzFeed reports. Frances Choy, 34, who was convicted in 2003 of killing her parents in a Massachusetts house fire got life behind bars—but a judge vacated her conviction last...

WNBA Star Marries Man She Helped Free After Wrongful Conviction

Maya Moore, Jonathan Irons get their happily ever after

(Newser) - Basketball star Maya Moore has married Jonathan Irons, the Missouri man she helped work to free from prison after a 22-year-old wrongful conviction, the AP reports. Moore, 31, and Irons, 40, appeared together on Good Morning America Wednesday to discuss their social justice efforts—and their relationship. Moore revealed that...

A Wrongful Conviction Makes Headlines in China

Zhang Yuhuan's 27 years in prison make for the longest-known wrongful conviction

(Newser) - China's longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate is now a free man, some 27 years after he was imprisoned for a crime he long maintained he did not commit. Zhang Yuhuan alleged police tortured him into admitting he killed two young boys who were his neighbors in 1993, and a high...

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