4/11/24  Homeless and troubled, William Woods gave up. In 2020 he pled guilty in Los Angeles to a  series of financial crimes. Woods was jailed, then placed under mental care. In fact, the crimes had been committed by Matthew Keirans. A long-ago coworker, he had stolen Woods’ identity and posed as him since 1988. Finally, in 2023, a detective at the Iowa college where the pretend Woods worked used DNA from Woods’ father’s birth certificate to confirm who the real  Woods was. Keirans recently pled guilty to Federal impersonation charges; he faces thirty years. Woods’ exoneration is pending.

3/22/24  According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 153 persons were exonerated of their criminal convictions during 2023. Eighty-six were exonerated of murder, and two for manslaughter. Twenty-three were exonerated of other violent crimes, and 17 for sexual assault. Fifty exonerations were based at least in part on mistaken eyewitness ID, 32 on false confessions, and 116 on perjury or false information. False or “misleading” forensic evidence was cited in 43 cases. National Registry

6/15/23  In 1988 Chicago man Arthur Brown drew a life sentence for murdering two persons by arson. During his trial he insisted that his confession was coerced by police. Years later his account was seconded by a fellow inmate, who said he set the fire. Brown was retried, but jurors disbelieved his witness, and he was again convicted. In 2017, after Brown had served 29 years, a judge found fault with his prosecution and ordered a third trial. But newly-elected progressive D.A. Kim Foxx dismissed the case and Brown was released. Chicago has now agreed to pay him $7.25 million compensation.

5/26/23  It was a horrendous crime - the attempted gunning down of six L.A.-area high school students. Three gang members were convicted in 1990 and received lengthy terms. In 2017, one told the parole board that he was the shooter and that one of those convicted, Daniel Saldana, told the truth when he denied being present. But his words weren’t passed on to the D.A. for six years. When they were, things moved swiftly. Acting on the D.A.’s motion, a judge declared Saldana innocent. He had served 33 years.

4/17/23  Former Chicago D.A.’s Nick Trutenko and Andrew Horvat face prosecution for lying about a material issue connected with the 2020 retrial of Jackie Wilson, who had been imprisoned, along with his brother Andrew, for murdering two Chicago police officers in 1982. That investigation was one of many tainted by allegations that detectives working under notorious ex-cop Jon Burge had coerced confessions. Andrew Wilson was retried, reconvicted, and died in prison in 2007. But in October 2020, after serving 36 years, Jackie Wilson was exonerated. (Note: Indictments have been returned charging both former prosecutors with offenses including perjury, official misconduct and obstruction.)

11/28/22  According to a new report by the National Registry on Exonerations, innocent Black persons are approx. “seven-and-a-half times more likely to be convicted of murder” than innocent Whites. Contributing to the disparity is the far higher rate of murder in areas populated by Black persons. Innocent Blacks are also more than eight times more likely than innocent Whites to be convicted of rape. And because “racial profiling” leads them to be stopped far more often, innocent Black persons are also disproportionately convicted of drug crimes.

10/26/22  Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker commuted Gerald Reed’s sentence last year because his conviction for a 1990 murder stemmed from work by detectives supervised by disgraced former Chicago P.D. Commander Jon Burge. But promptly on release, Reed reportedly embarked on a multi-State “crime spree.” So now he’s back in jail, but for other things. Meanwhile the saga of his original case remains. Could he be retried for the murder? And if he’s convicted, could he do more time?

9/28/22  A major study about racial disparities in wrongful conviction by the National Registry of Exonerations concludes that Black persons “are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes.” In homicides, many wrongful convictions arise from pairing slipshod policing, officer misconduct, racial bias and the weaknesses of cross-racial identification with the high rates of violence that characterize areas predominantly populated by Black persons.

8/10/22   Announcing that she “can no longer stand by these convictions,” Chicago D.A. Kim Foxx dismissed charges against seven persons convicted at the hands of discredited former police detective Reynaldo Guevara. Thirty-one convictions resulting from his “work” have been overturned since 2016, with causes ranging from “manipulating witnesses to fabricating evidence.” Those freed included Carlos Andino, who was serving a 60-year term, and Johnny Flores and Jaime Rios, who had been imprisoned for two decades. More exonerations are promised.

7/15/22  With prosecutors’ assent, a Chicago judge freed two brothers who served 25 years in prison for a murder they insist they did not commit. Juan and Rosendo Hernandez were allegedly picked on by disgraced former detective Reynaldo Guevara at the behest of former cop Joseph Miedzianowski, who thought that one of the brothers stole drugs from an associate. Miedzianowski is serving a life sentence for drugs and racketeering. As in Guevara’s other cases, the brothers’ conviction stemmed from questionable witness identifications.

7/13/22  After serving twenty-six years for a murder he insists he did not commit, Jose Cruz is a free man. Released yesterday after a judge threw out his conviction, he joins the expanding list of victims of discredited former Chicago cop Reynaldo Guevara. At trial, one witness identified Cruz as the killer, but it’s alleged he was coached. There were two other witnesses, but both insisted the killer was Black, so neither was called. Similar circumstances tainted the convictions of Daniel Rodriguez, who was exonerated earlier this year, and of David Colon, who was released in 2017 but could be re-charged.

4/26/22  Released in 2006 after spending thirteen years in prison, Daniel Rodriguez is now truly “free.”  Cook County prosecutors dismissed his murder conviction, which had been based on Mr. Rodriguez’s confession to disgraced ex-Chicago P.D. detective Reynaldo Guevara. Mr. Rodriguez claims he was not involved in the crime, and that he only confessed because he was beaten by Guevara and his partner.

4/23/22  Every challenged conviction - with forty-four just tossed, the number is now two-hundred twelve - “related” to the work of corrupt former Chicago P.D. Sergeant Ronald Watts has been dismissed. Several of his victims were present when a Cook County judge vacated their convictions. In 2012 an FBI sting led to Watts’ conviction for extorting drug dealers and residents of a housing project and pressing phony charges. He served 22 months in prison. One colleague was also convicted. But several officers who knew of Watt’s wrongdoing remain on the job, although without police powers.

2/17/22  Ex-Chicago cop Ronald Watts left Federal prison in 2015, but the exonerations of those he and his corrupt colleagues arrested on phony drug charges keep coming. Last summer lawyers for 88 defendants petitioned for the dismissal of 100 convictions. Nineteen were just granted, bringing the total to 59. Prosecutors are doing individual reviews, and more dismissals are likely (see 12/16/20 update).

1/22/22  Chicago is considering a $14 million settlement to compensate Kevin Bailey and Corey Batchelor, two wrongfully convicted men who spent decades in prison for a 1989 murder that was investigated by associates of disgraced former detective Jon Burge. Their convictions were tossed out in 2018. Burge died that year after serving 4 1/2 years in Federal prison and home confinement.

9/16/21  Two Chicago men, Armando Serrano and Jose Montanez, will share $20.5 million for being “framed” in a 1993 murder by retired police detective Reynaldo Guevara. In 2004 a witness said his testimony against them was “fed” by the now-infamous detective, who allegedly bullied and coached winesses as a matter of course. In all, eighteen convictions in which Guevara played a role have been tossed. One was settled by the city for $21 million in 2009; another for $17 million in 2018.

8/27/21  Twelve years into his career, Adewale Oduye called it quits. One of L.A.’s few Black prosecutors, his many attempts to keep cops from railroading the innocent had run into a brick wall. And within his office a culture of race and sex discrimination didn’t help. He began posting about it all online. In time, though, “Spooky Brown” got found out. Now he works with at-risk youths.

7/1/21  After serving thirty-six years for killing a police officer, Jackie Wilson was awarded a certificate of innocence. His exoneration came after three trials, most recently last fall. In the end, defenders proved that Wilson’s brother was the culprit, and that Jackie Wilson’s confession was extorted by a gang of cops led by notorious police commander Jon Burge. Wilson, who was released in 2018, is preparing a massive lawsuit. A special investigation into alleged prosecutorial misconduct has been ordered.

12/16/20  In 2012 an FBI sting led to the arrest and conviction of former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and Officer Kallatt Mohammed, who during a “decade of corruption” extorted drug dealers and residents of a housing complex and allegedly pressed phony charges. Their activities led to the exoneration of fifteen persons in 2017 alone. So far eighty persons convicted through their testimony have had their charges dismissed, with the most recent eight coming yesterday.

4/6/19  Posted at the Innocence Project, an interview with Jennifer Thompson, whose mistaken witness ID led to the wrongful conviction of Ronald Cotton. Thompson now leads an organization that advocates for exonerees.

2/24/19  Simi Valley, CA, whose officers once wrongly concluded that Craig Coley was a killer, agreed to settle his claim for $21 million. That’s on top of the $1.95 million that California paid Coley for its role in imprisoning him for 38 years for a murder he didn’t commit.

11/28/23  Waves of murder convictions accompanied the crack wars of the nineties. In time, many were successfully challenged by innocence projects that sprang up to counter the unholy effects of a hurried, imprecise and occasionally corrupt police response. Nationwide there have been 1,300 murder exonerations since 1989, including 115 in New York City. Its two most recent beneficiaries are Jabar Walker and Wayne Gardine. Walker’s accuser recanted, but his change of mind was ignored. Gardine’s accuser, a self-serving drug dealer, originally described the killer as a six-footer. Gardine is five-eight.

10/23/23  In 1983 a Baltimore middle-school student was gunned down for his Georgetown jacket. Although some witnesses said that 18-year old Michael Willis ran out of the school and tossed a gun, police focused on ex-students Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, and Ransom Watkins because they were kicked out of the school during an unauthorized visit just before the murder. After harsh questioning, several teens ID’d them from a photo spread, and they were convicted in 1984. More than 30 years later an innocence project stepped in, and the three were exonerated and freed in 2019. Baltimore has agreed to pay them $48 million. As for Michael Willis, he was murdered in 2002.  Innocence project  (See 12/4/19 update)

9/26/23  In 1987, after a psychiatrist tipped police about Shawn Melton’s depraved fantasies, Solano County, CA police arrested Melton for the assault and murder of a six-year old boy. Melton denied involvement, and he spent nineteen months locked up as juries twice acquitted him. Melton was free but remained a suspect, He died in 2000. Advanced DNA techniques recently absolved Melton and identified Fred Cain, 69, as the real killer. He was arrested by police in Oregon.

4/6/23  Florida man Crosley Green had spent 28 years behind bars for murder when, in 2018, a judge vacated his conviction because prosecutors withheld evidence that the killer was the victim’s girlfriend. Three witnesses recanted as well. But Green stayed locked up until 2021, when he was placed on home detention because of the pandemic. Since then appellate decisions have proven unfavorable to his cause, and after two years of “freedom” Green has been ordered back to prison to complete his life term.

1/25/23  Hawaiian native Ian Schweitzer is a free man. Twenty-five years after he, his brother and a friend were imprisoned for the rape-murder of a tourist, DNA evidence conclusively established his innocence. Their fate was sealed by a false admission from the friend, who was trying to mitigate charges in another case, perjured testimony from a like-minded jailhouse informant, and since-disproven bite-mark evidence. Advances in DNA now conclusively prove that a blood-soaked t-shirt central to the case, plus the victim’s vaginal swab, plus numerous other key items carries the DNA of the real killer.

11/18/22  Shamel Capers was sixteen when he allegedly gunned down a rival New York City gang member in 2013. He has always denied guilt, and after serving eight years of a fifteen-to-life sentence a judge set him free. Lael Jappa, the gang member whose testimony was key in convicting Capers, has since repeatedly admitted - including in a recorded phone call to his mother - that he lied to get a break on other charges. And the Queens D.A. said that “we could not let miscarriages of justice stand.”

10/26/22  Remember Scott Peterson? Convicted of his wife’s murder two decades ago, his saga has been depicted in books, movies and documentaries. California’s high court threw out his death sentence in 2020. Its ruling, which cited juror bias, also hinted that bias might have tainted the original verdict. Indeed, did he murder Laci Peterson? It’s now up to a judge to decide whether the case will be retried.

8/1/22  Toforest Johnson has been on death row 24 years for murdering a Jefferson Co. (Ala.) deputy. According to his many notable defenders - and that includes a former Alabama Chief Justice, the former State Attorney General, the current D.A. and a juror - the case against him was made up from whole cloth. Yet despite requests by the present and former D.A.’s, no new trial is on the horizon. Website

4/6/22  Eight years ago two witnesses said that police had pressured them to identify Kansas City man Keith Carnes as the shooter in a 2003 killing. But Carnes remained imprisoned. Now that he’s served sixteen years, a judge cited the recantation and prosecutors’ failure to provide a possibly exculpatory informant statement and released Carnes pending retrial. Prosecutors - the same office was involved in the Strickland case (see 11/24/21 update) - say they’re reviewing things.

2/11/22  Veteran Dixmoor (Ill) police officer Jose Villegas faces felony misconduct charges after allegedly telling a witness which photo to select from a lineup. That picture, it turns out, was of an innocent man who walked into a wireless store three days after a robbery and was thought by the witness, an employee, to resemble the suspect. Police responded and arrested Larry Warnsley. In a sense he was lucky, as he only spent 18 days in jail. And yes, he’s suing (click here for the complaint).

11/24/21  Acting on motions filed by Jackson County, Missouri D.A. Jean Baker and the Midwest Innocence Project, a judge exonerated and freed Kevin Strickland, who served more than forty-three years for his alleged involvement in a triple homicide. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, and a survivor who picked him out of a lineup and was the sole basis for his conviction later insisted she had been pressured by police. Strickland’s alibi witnesses were ignored, as were the statements of two confessed participants who swore that he wasn’t there. (See 4/6/22 update)

1/29/20  Twenty-five years after his imprisonment for a gang rape, Rafael Ruiz was  exonerated with DNA evidence. He was first tied to the crime through the victim’s erroneous identification of the apartment where her assailants lived. She then identified him through a sloppy show-up process even though his ethnicity didn’t match. His accuser admitted that she had been uncertain but felt “pressured” by police to make an identification.

12/4/19  Thirty-six years after their imprisonment, Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart walked out of prison, once again free men. That’s how long it took before the Baltimore D.A. acknowledged that police and prosecutorial misconduct, including hiding exculpatory evidence and coercing young witnesses, led to their wrongful conviction in the murder of another teen. Authorities think they know who the real killer was, but he died years ago. (See 10/23/23 update)