According to a new report from the National Registry of Exonerations, 139 wrongfully convicted individuals were exonerated in 2017. This includes four people who had been sentenced to death. The leading cause in last year’s exonerations was official misconduct, particularly concealing exculpatory evidence.
Category: Wrongfully Convicted
MEDIA ADVISORY October 27, 2015 CONTACT: Vanessa Akins, Communications Coordinator 512-441-1808 (office); 979-481-2709 (cell) vanessa@tcadp.org Death Row Exonoree Anthony Graves to Visit Austin Special event taking place at critical time […]
“Journey to Justice: A Speakers’ Tour Featuring Death Row Survivor Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon” will take place in the Metroplex from September 28 – October 2, 2014. Juan Melendez spent 17 years, 8 months, and 1 day on Florida’s death row for a crime he did not commit. He was exonerated and released on January 3, 2002.
The Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas has made a “just cause” determination with respect to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct against former Burleson County District Attorney Charles J. Sebesta, Jr. in his prosecution of Anthony Graves in 1994. As a result of Sebesta’s misconduct, Graves spent 18½ years of his life in prison, more than 12½ years of that on death row, for a crime he did not commit and of which he was later completely exonerated by honest prosecutors.
Earlier today, the Maryland Senate passed SB 276, a bill to replace the death penalty with life without parole, by a vote of 27-20. The vote occurred after three days of […]
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 […]
The June issue of Texas Monthly magazine features a fascinating discussion that took place recently among some of the most pivotal players in our state’s criminal justice system. Jake Silverstein, […]
The National Registry of Exonerations is a joint project of the University of the Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, maintaining […]