Today, September 28, 2012, Damon Thibodeaux became the 18th death row inmate to be proven innocent by DNA and the 300th person overall to be exonerated by DNA evidence in the United States. Thibodeaux served 15 years in solitary confinement on death row in Angola, Louisiana. A Jefferson Parish judge overturned his conviction for the 1997 murder of his 14-year-old step-cousin, Crystal Champagne.
Since 1973, 141 people (including 12 in Texas) have been released from death rows nationwide due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. You can read more about Thibodeaux’s case and the 299 other DNA exonorees (including 46 from Texas) on a new site created by the Innocence Project.