On November 20th the State of Texas plans to execute Rodney Reed for the 1996 rape and murder of Stacey Stites. In 1998 Reed was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury in Bastrop County. DNA evidence found on Stites was the only way investigators connected Reed to the crime. However, Reed testified […]
Category: Innocence Project
REPOST of Press Release from the Innocence Project: Newly Discovered Evidence Points to Possible False Testimony at Willingham’s Trial and Possible Prosecutorial Misconduct that May Have Contributed to His Wrongful Execution (Austin, TX; September 27, 2013) – Relatives for Cameron Todd Willingham were joined by exoneree Michael Morton at a press conference at the Texas capitol […]
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 […]
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Court of Inquiry Ruling Postponed
On October 14, 2010, State District Judge Charlie Baird convened a court of inquiry into whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed and whether or not state officials committed a crime in how they handled his case prior to the execution.
Hank Skinner is scheduled to be executed on March 24, 2010. After the most recent denial by the Court of Criminal Appeals for a stay of execution, Skinner’s life now weighs in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, and Governor Rick Perry. The most contested issue in […]
On Thursday, March 4, state District Judge Kevin Fine granted a pretrial motion declaring the death penalty unconstitutional. “Based on the moratorium (on the death penalty) in Illinois, the Innocence Project and more than 200 people being exonerated nationwide, it can only be concluded that innocent people have been executed. It’s safe to assume we […]
As reported yesterday, Larry Swearingen lost his request for additional DNA testing with the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Texas Observer wrote the following piece on Swearingen’s possible innocence. “Possibly Innocent Man Loses Another Appeal” by Dave Mann (February 11, 2010): Larry Swearingen lost another appeal yesterday. This wasn’t all that surprising. For one, The […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, August 31, 2009 CONTACT: Kristin Houlé, Executive Director, 512-441-1808 (office); 202-494-3578(cell) khoule@tcadp.org New Investigation Confirms Execution of an Innocent ManBroad Body of Evidence Points to Wrongful Execution of Texan Cameron Todd Willingham (Austin, Texas) — A new investigative report that will appear in the September 7 issue of the New Yorker […]