Innocence Project – News Stories About Innocence Project - Page 1

2 Men Convicted of Killing Malcolm X Will Be Exonerated

Judge Tosses
Convictions of Two
in Malcolm X Killing

UPDATED

Nov 18, 2021 2:44 PM CST

Judge Tosses Convictions of Two in Malcolm X Killing

New investigation cleared Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam

(Newser) - Update: A Manhattan judge on Thursday threw out the convictions of two men convicted of killing Malcolm X decades ago. Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam both wrongfully served years in prison before being released in the 1980s. A new investigation cleared the men, and even the admitted gunman says the...

Rodney Reed's Lawyers Get Shot at Securing New Trial

Judge Balks at Retrial
for Death Row's Rodney Reed

UPDATED

Nov 2, 2021 11:23 AM CDT

Judge Balks at Retrial for Death Row's Rodney Reed

More than 20 witnesses implicated another man in 1996 murder in Texas

(Newser) - Update: A Texas judge says a death row inmate backed by celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna should not receive a new trial. The judge in Bastrop County said Rodney Reed—sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of a young woman—"has not proven by clear and...

After 45 Years in
Prison for Murder,
He's Acquitted at 83

Oct 28, 2021 2:32 PM CDT

After 45 Years in Prison for Murder, He's Acquitted at 83

'I've become free,' Isaiah Andrews says following ruling in wife's 1974 murder

(Newser) - Isaiah Andrews spent 45 years in prison after he was convicted of killing his wife in 1974. But "the guy was in prison for something he didn't do," a juror told Cleveland.com on Wednesday after the 83-year-old was acquitted of aggravated murder in a Cuyahoga County...

Man Exonerated After 15 Years on Death Row Dies of COVID

Innocent Man Freed After
15 Years Dies of COVID

Sep 13, 2021 3:07 PM CDT

Innocent Man Freed After 15 Years Dies of COVID

Damon Thibodeaux had gotten his first shot of vaccine just days before contracting the virus

(Newser) - A man who spent a third of his life behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit has died of COVID just a few short years after his exoneration. After a nine-hour interrogation in 1996, 22-year-old Damon Thibodeaux confessed to killing his cousin Crystal Champagne and was convicted in...

Michigan Man Exonerated
After 32 Years in Prison

May 27, 2021 2:46 AM CDT

Michigan Man Exonerated After 32 Years in Prison

Gilbert Poole's murder conviction was based on debunked bite mark evidence

(Newser) - A Michigan man was exonerated Wednesday after 32 years in prison when authorities agreed that he was wrongly convicted of a fatal stabbing in suburban Detroit based on faulty evidence, including a bite mark on the victim. For years, Gilbert Poole Jr. had challenged his first-degree murder conviction with expertise...

43 Years After
He Was Jailed,
Prosecutors
Admit 'Error'

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...

He Stole 2 Shirts From Saks,
Spent 20 Years in Prison

Apr 12, 2021 4:22 PM CDT

He Stole 2 Shirts From Saks, Spent 20 Years in Prison

Guy Frank was sentenced as a multiple offender

(Newser) - Guy Frank walked out of a Saks Fifth Avenue with two shirts he hadn't paid for in September 2000. On Friday, he walked out of a New Orleans prison a free man, having served 20 years for the crime. WDSU reports an arm of the Innocence Project New Orleans...

New Evidence
Clears Inmate
After 37 Years

Aug 28, 2020 12:02 AM CDT

New Evidence Clears Inmate After 37 Years

Robert DuBoise's family never lost hope

(Newser) - A Florida man who spent the last 37 years in prison on a rape and murder charge was released Thursday, hours after officials revealed dramatic new evidence that proved his innocence. Robert DuBoise walked out of the Hardee Correctional Institution in Bowling Green shortly after 2pm. With him were his...

Judge Rejects DNA Test
13 Years After Execution

Nov 18, 2019 6:00 PM CST

Judge Rejects DNA Test 13 Years After Execution

The Innocence Project backed the test, which would have been a first

(Newser) - A Memphis judge ruled on Monday that the daughter of a man executed 13 years ago for murder does not have the right to seek DNA testing in the case. Sedley Alley, April Alley's father, was executed in 2006 for the 1985 murder of Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins....

Supporters Turn
to Governor
and Courts as
Execution Nears

Nov 7, 2019 6:00 PM CST

Supporters Turn to Governor and Courts as Execution Nears

Rodney Reed's team builds case that Stacey Stites' fiance killed her

(Newser) - The legal wheels are turning as Rodney Reed sits in a Texas prison, less than two weeks from his scheduled execution. New witnesses, he says, implicate the victim's fiance, Jimmy Fennell, in the rape and killing of Stacey Stites in 1996. An inmate says in an affidavit that Fennell...

Man Freed 17 Years After
Real Shooter Confessed

Aug 2, 2019 12:01 AM CDT

Man Freed 17 Years After Real Shooter Confessed

John Miller spent 22 years in prison

(Newser) - A Philadelphia man who spent more than two decades behind bars for a murder he didn't commit is a free man—17 years after another man confessed to the crime. John Miller was released Wednesday after 22 years in prison, the AP reports. Surrounded by family outside the State...

Media Swarm as
Amanda Knox Returns to Italy

Jun 13, 2019 11:26 AM CDT

Media Swarm as Amanda Knox Returns to Italy

She'll speak on 'trial by media' at Saturday conference

(Newser) - Amanda Knox is facing her fears . The former exchange student who was convicted, then acquitted, of killing roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007 stepped foot in that country Thursday for the first time since her release from prison eight years ago, per NBC News . The 31-year-old journalist will "...

They Said He Killed His Lover
in 1998. They Got It Wrong

Oct 16, 2018 4:47 PM CDT

They Said He Killed His Lover in 1998. They Got It Wrong

Horace Roberts is exonerated in the death of Terry Yvette Cheek

(Newser) - "It's a classic murder case, where you've got a husband, you've got a lover, and you've got a dead wife." One of those two men spent almost 20 years behind bars for the crime—and prosecutors now believe it was the wrong one. The...

Dog Saves Man From
50-Year Prison Sentence

Sep 11, 2018 1:00 AM CDT

Dog Saves Man From 50-Year Prison Sentence

Alleged victim claimed Oregon man killed her pup Lucy

(Newser) - The discovery of a black Lab named Lucy led to the unravelling of a criminal case Monday against an Oregon man who had begun serving a 50-year prison sentence. Joshua Horner, a plumber from the central Oregon town of Redmond, was convicted on April 12, 2017, of sexual abuse of...

He Wrongfully Spent 45 Years
in Prison in 'Weak at Best' Case

Nov 16, 2017 8:44 AM CST

He Wrongfully Spent 45 Years in Prison in 'Weak at Best' Case

Now 65-year-old Wilbert Jones is free after his rape conviction was overturned

(Newser) - A 65-year-old Louisiana man arrested at 19 and sentenced to life without parole walked out of prison Wednesday, saying "God is so good" after his rape conviction was overturned. Authorities withheld evidence that could have exonerated Wilbert Jones decades ago, and their case against him was "weak at...

He Spent 17 Years in Prison.
Then They Found His Lookalike

Jun 12, 2017 3:00 AM CDT

He Spent 17 Years in Prison. Then They Found His Lookalike

Judge orders release of Richard Jones

(Newser) - "Everybody has a doppelganger. Luckily we found his," says a lawyer for a man who has been freed after serving 17 years for a crime he always insisted he didn't commit. Richard Jones was released by a Kansas judge after lawyers presented evidence that there is another...

Witness Recants 27 Years
After Teen Jailed for Murder

Apr 14, 2017 7:55 AM CDT

Witness Recants 27 Years After Teen Jailed for Murder

Maine man serving 70-year sentence released on bail

(Newser) - A man who served 27 years in prison for the 1989 murder of a childhood girlfriend was released on $25,000 bail Thursday after the key witness in the case recanted. Anthony Sanborn, 44, had been convicted of killing 16-year-old Jessica Briggs and sentenced to 70 years in prison. At...

DNA Clears Man
in Prison for 16
Years for Rape

Nov 24, 2015 2:13 PM CST

DNA Clears Man in Prison for 16 Years for Rape

'Shaky witness' testimony erroneously landed Luis Vargas in jail in 1999

(Newser) - A California man imprisoned for 16 years for sexual assault was exonerated Monday after DNA tests showed another man committed the crimes, USA Today reports. Luis Vargas, 46, broke down when an LA Superior Court judge granted a petition to release him from his sentence of 55 years to life...

FBI Gave Bad Forensics Testimony for Years

Apr 19, 2015 3:14 PM CDT

FBI Gave Bad Forensics Testimony for Years

Hair-comparison experts 'overstated' the facts, FBI admits

(Newser) - Impressed when an FBI forensic expert testifies in court? Jurors likely are too, but the FBI's hair-comparison unit actually gave unscientific testimony against criminal defendants for more than 20 years before 2000, according to the FBI and the Justice Dept. Among the FBI's 28 microscopic hair experts, 26...

Man Cleared of Rape After
Spending Half His Life Jailed

Mar 11, 2015 4:20 AM CDT

Man Cleared of Rape After Spending Half His Life Jailed

DNA evidence shows Angel Gonzalez was innocent

(Newser) - A man wrongly convicted of rape is finally free after spending nearly half his life in prison. After hugging his lawyers from the Innocence Project, Illinois' Angel Gonzalez left Dixon Correctional Center yesterday with his arms raised, saying simply, "the past is the past." A day earlier, a...