innocent

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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...

43 Years After He Was Jailed, Prosecutors Admit 'Error'
43 Years After
He Was Jailed,
Prosecutors
Admit 'Error'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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...

Prosecutor Sent Innocent Man to Death Row. Now, Payback

Texas lawyer Charles Sebesta disbarred for misconduct in Anthony Graves case

(Newser) - A Texas man spent nearly two decades in prison—more than half of that time on death row—before being exonerated in 2010. But Anthony Graves didn't simply celebrate his freedom: He went after the prosecutor who put him behind bars , resulting in Charles Sebesta's disbarment by the...

Now Those Claiming Innocence Get Parole, Too

Wrongful convictions, DNA evidence bring change to tradition

(Newser) - For years, a prisoner's best shot at parole was to admit guilt, because to claim innocence meant denial. But as wrongful conviction cases stack up, the New York Times reports things are starting to change. "You can justify a release now," says a former New York parole...

Sandusky Will Assert His Innocence: Lawyer

Ex-football coach has hearing tomorrow

(Newser) - Jerry Sandusky's lawyer said today "it's as certain as certain can be" that the former Penn State assistant football coach will address the judge and assert his innocence before he is sentenced on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. Nobody else is expected to speak on Sandusky'...

Many Innocent NC Men Sit in Jail on Gun Charges
'Innocent' NC Men Sit in Prison on Gun Convictions
investigation

'Innocent' NC Men Sit in Prison on Gun Convictions

Justice Department won't release scores who didn't technically break law

(Newser) - The Justice Department refuses to release scores of North Carolina inmates that it acknowledges are innocent—lack of guilt that many of the inmates themselves aren't even aware of. A USA Today investigation identified more than 60 men who essentially became innocent overnight last year, when an appeals court...

Sandusky: 'I Shouldn't Have Showered With Those Kids'

Accused coach says he's innocent, and not a pedophile

(Newser) - Jerry Sandusky admits he showered and played with young boys, but insists he is not a pedophile. "I say that I am innocent of those charges," Sandusky tells Bob Costas in an NBC interview airing tonight. Asked whether he is a pedophile, Sandusky says, "No." Currently...

Innocence, Bravado Are a Dangerous Mix

McCain's Alaskan choice invokes myth of 'the innocent American'

(Newser) - John McCain's choice of running mate invokes the one of our country's oldest and most seductive myths, the virtue of American innocence, Anthony Robinson writes in the Seattle P-I. Innocent of Old World wiles, Americans are thought to have "a combination of virtue, tenacity and practical knowledge that will...

Harding Skates Back Into Spotlight
Harding
Skates Back
Into Spotlight

Harding Skates Back Into Spotlight

Disgraced Olympian not party to Kerrigan mess, says tell-all book

(Newser) - What read like a closed book in 1994 is falling open in a Tonya Harding tell-all, reports Newsweek in an interview with the fallen figure skater. The Tonya Tapes argues that Harding wasn't just uninvolved in Nancy Kerrigan's knee-whacking—she planned to rat out her ex-husband to the FBI until...

After Witness Recants, Inmate Goes Free After 25 Years

Los Angeles man says he's happy, not bitter

(Newser) - A man locked up 25 years for a murder he says he did not commit walked free from a Los Angeles prison yesterday after the sole witness recanted. "I'm not bitter," said Willie Earl Green, now 56. "I'm happy today." Among those to greet him were...

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