wrongful conviction

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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...

Man's Murder Conviction Tossed After 32 Years in Prison

Andrew Wilson plans to fly to St. Louis immediately to visit his elderly mother

(Newser) - After 32 years behind bars, Andrew Wilson had his murder conviction thrown out Wednesday by a Los Angeles County judge. His first plan as a newly free man? Fly to St. Louis to visit his 96-year-old mother, who never doubted his innocence. Wilson, now 62, was convicted in 1986 of...

Okla. to Pay Back Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 13 Years

After 2 decades, state agrees to compensate Thomas Webb III $175,000

(Newser) - How much are 13 years of your life worth? Per the state of Oklahoma, $175,000 should cover it for Thomas Webb III, who spent that amount of time behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Per NBC News , Webb's lawyers say that after 20 years of...

'Significant Settlement' for Innocent Men Jailed 32 Years

Cleared of arson in 2015, they'll each get $15.5M

(Newser) - After serving 32 years behind bars for arson and murders they didn't commit , Amaury Villalobos and William Vasquez are finally getting what one official calls "closure." The two men wrongly convicted following a 1980 fire that killed a mother and her five children in a Brooklyn townhouse...

Dad in Australia's 'Dingo Took My Baby' Case Dies

Michael Chamberlain, then-wife wrongly convicted in daughter's death

(Newser) - It's a phrase synonymous with "the dog ate my homework." But for years, Michael Chamberlain tried to convince the world that it was true, that in the reported words of his former wife, "the dingo took my baby." He died Monday at age 72 of...

He Served 31 Years Before Being Cleared, Then Got $75

Lawrence McKinney is asking the state of Tennessee for $1M

(Newser) - Lawrence McKinney spent 31 years and nine months in prison before DNA evidence cleared him and set him free in 2009. Now, McKinney is seeking the $1 million he is entitled to under Tennessee law for all of those lost years. "I don’t have no life, all my...

He Was Executed in 1995. China Now Says He Was Innocent

Nie Shubin was made a suspect 'without a shred of evidence,' court finds

(Newser) - In August 1994, a Chinese man was named a suspect in the rape and murder of Kang Juhua, whose body was found in the northern Hebei province. He was allegedly beaten into a confession, subjected to a trial his parents couldn't attend, and executed by gunshot without their knowledge...

Texas: Women Convicted of Raping Girls Were Innocent

The 'San Antonio 4' are exonerated

(Newser) - "Excited" and "happy" is how the San Antonio Four are feeling after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals officially exonerated them of child sexual abuse on Wednesday after a 20-year fight. Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez were declared innocent after being wrongfully convicted of...

Paid $833K for 22 Years in Jail, Innocent Man Wants More

DNA evidence cleared Clark McMillan of rape and robbery in 2002

(Newser) - He was wrongly convicted of rape and robbery and served 22 years in prison before DNA evidence freed him in 2002. Now Clark McMillan, 58, says the $832,000 the state of Tennessee paid him is not enough to right the wrong, the Tennessean reports. McMillan, the first man in...

He Denied Guilt 65 Times. Then the Teen Just Gave Up
He Denied Guilt 65 Times. Then the Teen Just Gave Up
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Aug 6, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

He Denied Guilt 65 Times. Then the Teen Just Gave Up

Lorenzo Montoya was freed from prison after 13 years

(Newser) - Two years ago, Lorenzo Montoya left prison after 13 years when his conviction in the murder of a 29-year-old woman in Denver was dismissed. He is now suing the city and the cops who built the case against him when he was a young teenager, and the case is revisited...

Man Who Did 10 Years for Murder Gets Cleared of Crime

Paul Gatling was 'pressured to plead guilty'

(Newser) - A Virginia man who spent a decade in prison after pleading guilty to a New York City slaying over 50 years ago was cleared of the crime Monday, the AP reports. At the request of a prosecutor, a judge vacated the conviction of 81-year-old Paul Gatling for the 1963 shooting...

Man Convicted in 59-Year-Old Kidnapping and Murder Set Free

His conviction was vacated, and a new trial will be held

(Newser) - A man convicted four years ago in the oldest cold case ever tried was freed Friday after an Illinois judge vacated his conviction and subsequent life sentence, CNN reports. According to CBS News , 76-year-old Jack McCullough was convicted of kidnapping a 7-year-old girl, choking her, and stabbing her to death...

Exonerated Man Released From Prison After 33 Years

DNA evidence shows he's innocent of a 1982 murder and rape

(Newser) - After 33 years in prison, Keith Harward was released from the Nottoway Correctional Center on Friday after the Virginia Supreme Court agreed that DNA evidence proves he's innocent of the 1982 killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News, the AP reports. Harward was...

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...

More US Exonerations in 2015 Than Ever Before

Almost 150 people, mostly falsely convicted for homicides and drug possession

(Newser) - Netflix's Making a Murderer has not only become a binge-watching addiction—it's apparently turned the spotlight onto unjust convictions in the US. And exonerations are at an all-time high, reports Reuters : There were 149 in 2015, compared with 139 in 2014, according to a report from the National...

Teacher: I Was Fired Over 'Central Park Five' Lesson

NYC educator says school officials feared 'riots'

(Newser) - The Central Park Five were wrongfully convicted of a jogger's brutal rape and beating in a case that shook New York City 25 years ago. Now, a city teacher says she's been fired for creating a lesson plan about the case, reports the New York Daily News . Jeena...

More Than 150K Sign Making a Murderer Petition

They want Obama to free convicted killer Steven Avery

(Newser) - If Netflix was a court, Wisconsin inmate Steven Avery would probably already be free. Avery, who is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach, is the focus of true-crime series Making a Murderer, and more than 150,000 people have been convinced that he is...

He Was Jailed After a Woman's Dream. Now He's Free

Cops mistakenly destroyed DNA evidence 20 years ago

(Newser) - A 28-year nightmare is over for a Denver man who says he was wrongly convicted after a neighbor who had been raped and beaten told police his face appeared to her in a dream. A judge overturned the 1988 conviction of 60-year-old Clarence Moses-EL on Tuesday and he was freed...

3 NYC 'Arsonists' Exonerated After 35 Years

Fire that killed 6 was probably an accident, DA says

(Newser) - A crime that shocked New York City 35 years ago was probably just a tragic accident, meaning three men were wrongfully convicted of arson, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced during an emotional court hearing on Wednesday. William Vasquez and Amaury Villalobos, who spent more than 32 years behind...

Brother's Suicide Note Frees Man Jailed for 16 Years

Kansas man killed himself when new evidence surfaced

(Newser) - Kansas man Tom Bledsoe has confessed to raping and murdering the 14-year-old sister of his brother's wife, but he won't spend a day behind bars for the crime. The confession came in suicide notes that led to his younger brother's release from prison after 16 years, reports...

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