wrongful conviction

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After 'Big Wrong' Cleared by DNA, a Big Settlement

Robert DuBoise, freed in 2020 after 37 years behind bars, to be paid $14M by city of Tampa

(Newser) - A Florida man freed in 2020 from nearly four decades behind bars after DNA evidence cleared him of rape and murder will now receive monetary compensation for that time lost. The New York Times reports that on Thursday, the Tampa City Council unanimously OKed a $14 million settlement for Robert...

They Insisted They Were Framed. Now, Vindication
They Insisted They Were
Framed. Now, Vindication
LONGFORM

They Insisted They Were Framed. Now, Vindication

Derek Ridgewell, deemed 'Britain's most corrupt cop,' is at center of cases of wrongly convicted men in UK

(Newser) - Nearly a dozen convictions in the UK have been overturned over the past few years, with one common denominator: They were all tied to arrests made by police officer Derek Ridgewell, dubbed "Britain's most corrupt cop" by Simon Hattenstone in the Guardian . The article centers on the convictions...

3 Decades Later, a Juror's Second Thoughts Set Him Free

'Texas Monthly' explains how Estella Ybarra never felt right about convicting Carlos Jaile

(Newser) - Stories of prisoners being set free years after a wrongful conviction are not highly unusual. But a story by Michael Hall at Texas Monthly has an incredible twist: It wasn't newly revealed DNA evidence that got Carlos Jaile out of prison after nearly three decades, it was a juror...

City 'Deeply Remorseful' Over Man's 44 Years in Prison to Pay $22M

Ronnie Long also got apology from city of Concord, North Carolina, as well as $3M more from state

(Newser) - A North Carolina man wrongfully imprisoned for more than four decades has been awarded a $25 million settlement from the city of Concord and the state. The payout for Ronnie Long, now 68, comes after he sat in prison for 44 years following a wrongful conviction for burglary and rape...

Kennedy Cousin, Now Exonerated, Is Suing

Michael Skakel wants lead investigator, Connecticut town of Greenwich to pay

(Newser) - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel , whose conviction in the 1970s murder of a Connecticut teen was overturned, is suing the lead police investigator and the town of Greenwich for alleged malicious prosecution, civil rights violations, and other claimed wrongdoing. Skakel, 63, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy,...

Judge: Man Who Spent 48 Years in Prison Is Innocent

Ruling allows Oklahoma man Glynn Simmons to sue for compensation

(Newser) - A 70-year-old Oklahoma man has been exonerated after spending more than 48 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit—longer than any other wrongfully convicted inmate in US history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations . Glynn Simmons was declared innocent by Judge Amy Palumbo of Oklahoma...

Inmate Convicted on Blind Man's Eyewitness Testimony Is Freed

Darien Harris released from prison after 12 years behind bars

(Newser) - Darien Harris is a free man, a dozen years after he was convicted of murder based largely on the eyewitness testimony of a man who'd been legally blind for more than a decade before testifying in the trial. Prosecutors originally said they'd retry Harris after a judge vacated...

He Wanted to Be a Cop, Ended Up Wrongfully Imprisoned

Brian Beals, 57, spent 35 years behind bars in 'egregious' case

(Newser) - A Chicago man who spent 35 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit was freed Tuesday after a judge vacated his conviction and dismissed all charges. Brian Beals, 57, struggled to find the right words to describe his feelings as he stood outside Robinson Correctional Center in...

After 19 Years, Judge Throws Out Man's Murder Conviction

Marvin Haynes was 16 at time of Minneapolis killing

(Newser) - A 35-year-old man who was sent to prison for the 2004 killing of a man in a Minneapolis flower shop was released Monday after a judge ruled the eyewitness evidence on which his conviction rested was unreliable. Marvin Haynes, who was 16 at the time of the killing, was released...

Army Aims to Rectify 'Largest Mass Execution' in Its History

More than a century later, soldier convictions related to the 1917 Houston riots are overturned

(Newser) - It was, as the Washington Post reports, "the largest mass execution carried out in the history of the US Army." On Dec. 11, 1917, 13 Buffalo Soldiers were hanged in a military camp near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The African American cavalry soldiers of the...

This Baltimore Settlement Is Maryland's Biggest Ever

City to pay $48 million to 3 men wrongfully convicted as teens who spent 36 years behind bars

(Newser) - In November 1983, 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett was fatally gunned down in Baltimore, and cops soon said they had their suspects: three other neighborhood teens, all 16, who were arrested on Thanksgiving Day and subsequently convicted of murder and sent to prison for life. That trio—Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and...

Pair Wrongfully Convicted of Murder to Get $25M Payout

Connecticut settlement involves forensic expert Henry Lee, accused of fabricating evidence

(Newser) - Connecticut's attorney general has agreed to a $25.2 million settlement with two men who spent decades in prison for murder, based partly on evidence presented by famed forensic scientist Henry Lee that a judge later found was fabricated. Ralph "Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted in...

Alice Sebold's New Life Is One of Grief and 'Shame'

Bestselling author hasn't yet met with Anthony Broadwater, whom she once thought raped her

(Newser) - More than a year after the man she wrongfully accused of raping her had his conviction overturned, author Alice Sebold is still struggling to comprehend her role in what happened. "I still don't know where to go with this but to grief and to silence and to shame,...

2 Wrongfully Convicted Men to Get $900K From State

Dupree Glass, Juan Rayfor spent almost 17 years in prison for crime they didn't commit

(Newser) - Two men who served nearly 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of attempted murder after a 2004 shooting were declared innocent Thursday by a California judge. Under a new law, the state is required to pay them each $140 for every day they spent behind bars, or about...

Ex-Con Cleared in Rape at Heart of Alice Sebold's Memoir
NY to Pay $5.5M to Man
Cleared of Raping Author
UPDATED

NY to Pay $5.5M to Man Cleared of Raping Author

Alice Sebold misidentified Anthony Broadwater, who was later exonerated

(Newser) - The State of New York has agreed to pay $5.5 million to the man wrongly convicted of raping Alice Sebold more than 40 years ago. Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years in prison after Sebold misidentified him as the man who raped her when she was a college student in...

Inmate Serving 400-Year Sentence Exonerated

Sidney Holmes was convicted of robbery in 1989

(Newser) - A beaming Sidney Holmes walked out of a Florida jail Monday and hugged family members as he tasted freedom for the first time in the 34 years since he was wrongfully convicted of robbery. The 57-year-old was exonerated after the State Attorney's Conviction Review Unit determined that there was...

He Spent 38 Years Imprisoned for a Murder He Didn't Commit

Maurice Hastings has now been declared innocent

(Newser) - Months after his release from prison, Maurice Hastings has been officially declared innocent by a judge. The Los Angeles man was wrongfully convicted of a 1983 murder, but was exonerated decades later by DNA evidence. The judge vacated Hastings' conviction in October when he was freed, but prosecutors and Hastings'...

Judge Vacates Conviction of Man Imprisoned for 28 Years

Lamar Johnson always said he didn't commit 1994 murder

(Newser) - A Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn't commit. Lamar Johnson, 50, closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as a member of his legal...

No One Has Secured Exonerations Like Josh Tepfer
No One
Has Secured
Exonerations
Like Josh Tepfer
longform

No One Has Secured Exonerations Like Josh Tepfer

BuzzFeed profiles the Chicago attorney

(Newser) - "He gave me life again," one man said of Josh Tepfer. Multiply the sentiment by at least 288. Writing for BuzzFeed News , Melissa Segura profiles the 47-year-old Chicago attorney, who has led the charge in securing the exonerations of 288 wrongfully convicted people and numbers "among the...

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,...

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