10/3/24  Three men were originally charged with the 2011 murder of Chicago police officer Clifton Lewis, who was shot and killed while working a second job as a security guard. Allegations of police coercion and prosecutorial misconduct ultimately led to charges being dropped against Edgardo Colon and Tyrone Clay. And now, for like reasons, prosecutors vacated the conviction of the third defendant, Alexander Villa. He was just released after serving nearly thirteen years. (See 12/18/23 update)

9/2/24   Two years ago, acting on request by Baltimore prosecutors who found evidentiary problems with a case that was tried in 2000, a lower court overturned Adnan Syed’s conviction for the 1999 murder of his high school girlfriend. He was freed after serving 22 years. But last year an appellate court reversed his acquittal and ordered another evidentiary hearing. That decision was just affirmed by the Maryland Supreme Court. Syed, who’s once again a convicted killer, will remain free pending re-adjudication of his case by a trial court judge. (See 3/28/23 update)

8/30/24  Thirty-four years. That’s how long Texas man Benjamin Spencer (he’s now 59) served on his 1987 conviction for murder and carjacking. There were evidence problems from the start, and the murder conviction was tossed. But he was retried and convicted of aggravated robbery and got life. In time Dallas D.A.’s conviction integrity unit assembled a damning picture of the case, including false testimony by the “star witness” and an informant and the suppression of exculpatory evidence. Spencer was released in 2021, and his conviction was recently overturned.

8/19/24  On July 22, 2024 a St. Louis judge declared Christopher Dunn innocent of the 1990 murder for which he had been imprisoned over thirty years on a sentence of life without parole. But while the local D.A. supported the decision, it was opposed by the State Attorney General, who is convinced that the main witnesses against Dunn, who were youths when the killing took place, falsely recanted their testimony that Dunn shot and killed a 15-year old. But on July 30, 2024, Dunn was released. (See 5/16/23 update)

8/12/24  According to the Brooklyn D.A., “everyone involved in this case – defense, prosecution, police, and the Court – failed.” And that failure caused Arvel Marshall, who was convicted of a 2008 murder, to spend 16 years in prison. His freedom finally came thanks to a surveillance video, which indicated that the crime was committed by others. That video - a segment was shown at trial - was then said by the prosecutor to have no value. But there were technical issues, and no one had watched it in its entirety.

5/29/24  Darien Harris was released last year after Innocence Project lawyers convinced the Chicago D.A. that his conviction for a 2014 murder was based, in large part, on a mistaken identification by a legally-blind person. His failing eyesight was then a matter of record, but it was never probed. The driver of the getaway vehicle used in the crime, who originally ID’d Harris, recanted his testimony during the trial. A  lawsuit that Harris just filed against Chicago also alleges that a witness who was never called to testify had identified the “real” killer, but police had tried to coerce him to ID Harris instead. Innocence Project

3/29/24  Pennsylvania inmates Samuel Grasty, Derrick Chappell and Morton Johnson have spent two decades in prison for the 1997 murder of Henrietta Nickens, 70. They denied involvement and DNA tests were negative, but police got a fourth accused to testify against them in exchange for a short sentence. It now turns out that a third party’s DNA was in fact present. A judge just vacated their conviction, but they remain in custody pending a decision by the D.A., who insists they’re guilty, whether to retry them. Innocence project

2/1/24  An analysis of the National Registry of Exonerations reveals that New York City authorities have overturned “about 124” murder convictions since 1989. And now there’s Eric Smokes and David Warren, who were paroled in 2007 and 2011 after being convicted, as teens, for a 1987 murder. A judge just granted the D.A.’s motion to expunge their records. It turns out that police pressured five youths to identify them, that the jury was badly split, and that a hold-out juror was “bullied” to change her vote.

12/21/23   Oklahoma man Glynn Simmons is seventy-one. And after serving “48 years, one month and 18 days” in prison, he’s finally free. Based on “clear and convincing evidence” that an eyewitness erred during a lineup, a judge ruled that Simmons did not commit the 1974 murder for which he and a co-defendant, who was paroled in 2008, had drawn the death penalty (later reduced to life.) And yes, the identities of the “real” killers - two brothers, of whom one was convicted of a later murder - are known.

12/18/23  Two Cook County men, Edgardo Colon and Tyrone Clay, are suing Chicago over the allegedly botched police investigation of the 2011 murder of off-duty officer Clifton Lewis. Colon, who claims he was coerced into falsely confessing, served a decade before an appeals court overturned his conviction. Tyrone Clay, who was jailed for ten years awaiting trial, supposedly had an “airtight alibi” that was supposedly ignored. He’s also been released. Meanwhile lawyers for a third man, Alexander Villa, who was also convicted and is serving a life term, are filing papers alleging that he was also railroaded. (See 10/3/24 update)

12/15/23  After serving forty-two years in an Illinois prison for a 1981 double-murder, cousins James Soto and David Ayala, now both in their sixties, are set to be freed. Agreeing that the case was fatally flawed - every witness except the alleged real killer, who got a plea deal, recanted their testimony - prosecutors dropped all charges. According to national data, their exoneration is one for the record books. While incarcerated, Soto earned a degree from NWU, and he recently took the LSAT.

12/12/23  Marvin Haynes’ lawyers contend that pressured witnesses, a suggestive lineup and purposely overlooked evidence led to his 2005 wrongful conviction for murder. Today, eighteen prison-years later, Minneapolis’ D.A and a judge agreed. In their opinion, the (real) killer “most likely remained at large.” Mr. Haynes was set free. Meanwhile, in New York City, Thomas Malik, who was recently exonerated after spending nearly three decades in prison, sued for “at least $50 million.” And his two equally innocent co-defendants, Vincent Ellerbe, James Irons, aren’t far behind. (See 7/16/22 update)

12/6/23  Chicago’s D.A. is reviewing allegations by family members of several imprisoned persons that the recently retired police sergeant responsible for their convictions pressured witnesses to testify falsely. As it turns out, that sergeant is the spouse of a prosecutor assigned to the conviction integrity unit. Having employed Jon Burge, Ronald Watts and Reynaldo Guevarra, Chicago PD’s not exactly short on examples of detectives who allegedly framed suspects to run up their scores.

11/21/23  Former NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella, who plied his trade thirty-plus years ago, had a “rep” as someone who could solve the toughest murder cases. Problem is, his “propensity to embellish or fabricate statements” (that’s how a judge put it) ultimately led to the exoneration of more than a dozen inmates, many of whom had been locked up for decades. Settling their lawsuits has so far cost the city and state more than $100 million. Hired in 1973, he retired in 1999. And no, he was never punished.

11/7/23  Karen Dannett was ten when armed robbers burst into a Brooklyn, NYC bodega and opened fire, killing her father and wounding another worker. Detroy Livingston was convicted of the murder. Although the only evidence against him was, a single, shaky witness ID, he was tried and convicted and spent 35 years in prison. But the victim’s daugher was convinced of his innocence, and at her urging the case was reexamined. Prosecutors recently withdrew the charges and Livingston was declared innocent.

8/31/23  Chicago resident Francisco Benitez was eighteen in 1989 when he allegedly murdered two 14-year olds. Although family members insisted he was home, Benitez was convicted and imprisoned for the killings. But witness statements have since come to light attributing the shootings to gang members. Both detectives on the case have also been found liable for manipulating eyewitness ID’s (click here and here). So a judge just threw out the conviction and released Benitez, who’s served 34 years, on home monitoring. It’s up to prosecutors to decide whether to refile charges.

8/25/23  Neither Brian Scott Lorenz nor James Pugh left DNA at the scene of the 1993 murder for which they were convicted and imprisoned. It took twenty-five years for their lawyers to learn that the DNA of an as-yet unidentified third party was in fact recovered. And that an infamous escapee, Richard Matt, had been fingered by another criminal as the real perpetrator. That and other alleged prosecution shenanigans led a New York judge only days ago to throw out the convictions and order a new trial.

7/25/23  Three Philadelphia men have been imprisoned for over twenty years for robbing, sexually assaulting and murdering a 70-year old woman. Each protested his innocence, but a fourth, supposedly “intellectually disabled” youth confessed and implicated all four in exchange for a reduced sentence. DNA whose origin prosecutors once called a “mystery” was found on the victim, and inside her body, but retesting confirms it doesn’t belong to any of the imprisoned men. A judge will soon rule on their appeal.

6/19/23  Barry Lee Jones spent 28 years on Arizona’s death row for sexually assaulting and murdering his girlfriend’s 4-year old daughter. In retrospect, the Arizona A.G. agreed that physical and circumstantial evidence was lacking. Lousy lawyering, though, had apparently sealed his fate. Jones, who has always denied guilt, recently agreed to plead guilty to 2nd. degree murder for not getting medical care for the child, who was allegedly injured by someone else. He was freed in time for Father’s Day.

5/16/23  Severely criticized over her progressive approach, St. Louis D.A. Kim Gardner is stepping down in two weeks. But Gardner, who recently helped exonerate convicted murderer Lamar Johnson,  has now moved to exonerate convicted killer Christopher Dunn, who has been imprisoned 33 years. Dunn was convicted largely on the testimony of two boys, who now say that their accounts were coerced. A judge opined that he would probably be acquitted if retried, and a 2021 state law provides for special court hearings in such cases. (See 2/18/23 and 8/19/24 updates)

4/27/23  Despite the Oklahoma attorney general’s opinion that the trial of death-row inmate Richard Glossip had been “plagued by many errors”, and that the evidence would now be insufficient to convict, the State parole board split 2-2 on clemency. Governor Kevin Stitt, who already put off Mr. Glossip’s execution twice, may be unlikely to do so a third time. It’s presently scheduled for May 18. (Note: On May 5 the Supreme Court suspended Glossip's execution while it reviews the case.)

4/8/23  Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip’s execution is set for May 18. Only problem is, the main witness against him, who testified that he was hired by Glossip to shoot and kill his boss, had a serious psychiatric condition that prosecutors knew about but didn’t disclose. That recently came out, and given other weaknesses in the case, prosecutors have seconded a defense motion for a new trial.

3/29/23  New York is paying $5.5 million compensation to Anthony Broadwater, who was released in 1998 after serving 16 years in prison for rape. Broadwater was exonerated in 2021 because of conflicting identifications by the victim and the use of a microscopic hair analysis now deemed “junk science.” His alleged victim, writer Alice Sebold, wrote a novel based on the rape, “The Lovely Bones,” which was adapted into a hit movie. (See 11/24/21 update)

At a hearing last September a Maryland judge vacated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who had served more than twenty years for murdering his girlfriend. Prosecutors later dropped all charges because of a negative DNA result. But an appeals court just reinstated Syed’s conviction because the victim’s brother was not informed about the hearing. It questioned the relevance of the DNA findings and ordered another hearing, with the brother present. Syed’s lawyer is appealing. (See 9/15/22 and 9/2/24 entries)

2/18/23  Twenty-nine years after his arrest and conviction for murder, Missouri man Lamar Johnson is free. An eyewitness’ assertion that police had bullied him into picking Johnson out of a lineup and an admission by an imprisoned murderer that he and an associate actually committed the killing helped lead a St. Louis judge to set the verdict aside and order Johnson’s release. (See 5/16/23 update)

Mindful that “systemic racism” and other forms of bias have led to “wrongful or improper” convictions, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the formation of a “Post-Conviction Justice Unit.” It will be the first Statewide unit dedicated to preventing miscarriages of justice.

12/14/22  Two Georgia men, Cain Storey and Darrell Clark, were 17 in 1996 when their 15-year old friend was shot and killed. Two years later both were convicted of murder. But a popular podcast that investigated the case discovered that police “coerced” one witness and “took advantage” of another who was mentally impaired. Storey and Clark were supported by the victim’s family, and both are now free.

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.”

10/31/22  New York State and the City of New York are paying a combined $35 million to the families of Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, who were wrongfully convicted in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Both were paroled in the 80’s; Islam died in 2009. Authorities are blamed for intimidating witnesses and withholding evidence. Aziz and Islam insisted they were innocent and were home when the murder occurred. Mujahid Halim, the admitted shooter (he was paroled in 2010), denied they were involved.

10/20/22  A 1994 drive-by murder at a New Orleans housing project resulted in the imprisonment of two 17-year olds and an 18-year old. Then-cops Len Davis and Sammie Williams, who were taking bribes from drug dealers, got a local man to testify, and the youths, who insisted they were innocent, were convicted. But key evidence wasn’t turned over. All that, plus the fact that former officer Davis faces a death sentence for an unrelated murder, has just led to the youth’s release and exoneration.

9/15/22  An episode of the “Serial” podcast highlighting the weaknesses of the case against Baltimore man Adnan Syed, who is serving a life sentence for murdering a former girlfriend, has apparently led prosecutors to recommend his conviction be dismissed and that the matter be at the most retried. Concerns include unreliable cellphone data that might have misplaced Mr. Syed’s whereabouts and strong alternative suspects whose identities and motives were withheld from his lawyers. Mr. Syed was released pending a decision whether to retry. On October 11, 2022 prosecutors announced they were dropping charges since new DNA results from the victim's shoes exclude Syed. (See 3/29/23 update)

9/7/22  Twenty-nine years after his imprisonment for murdering his ex-wife, Herman Williams’ conviction was thrown out by an Illinois judge. Prosecutors agree that his trial was irreparably flawed by a host of factors, including misconduct by the police detective, who has a track record of coercing witnesses to lie, and a forensic pathologist, who incorrectly placed the victim’s death within the necessary time frame. New DNA techniques also exclude Mr. Williams from biological evidence found at the scene.

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.

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

7/16/22  Despite “shaky” witness ID’s and “factual inconsistencies,” disgraced former NYPD detective Louis Scarcella and a partner allegedly used “threats, lies, sleep deprivation and physical violence” to get three teens, Vincent Ellerbe, James Irons and Thomas Malik, to confess to a 1995 arson/murder. On July 15, on motion of the D.A., who said the confessions were coerced, a judge vacated the convictions. Irons and Malik were released (Ellerbe was paroled in 2020.) Each had served more than two decades. (See 12/12/23 update)

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.

6/3/22  Although he ultimately identified Alexander Torres, a key witness to a 2000 Los Angeles-area murder said that the killer and his victim seemed to be strangers (Torres and the victim were well acquainted.) Another conceded that he picked Torres from a photo lineup because he most resembled the shooter. And while Torres was provably elsewhere when the shooting happened, he was nonetheless convicted. But after doing twenty years, he’s been exonerated. An investigation funded by his family identified the actual shooter, a convicted robber, and both he and his driver have been arrested.

5/20/22  In 1992 Chicago man Daniel Taylor signed an elaborate confession admitting that he and seven others committed a double murder. But in 2013 lawyers from the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University proved that Taylor was actually in police custody for a disturbance when the murders occurred. It turns out that officers covered up evidence that Taylor wasn’t released until an hour after the killings. Chicago has agreed to pay Taylor $14.25 million for his two decades behind bars.

3/24/22  George and Melvin DeJesus testified they were at a party that evening in 1995 when their neighbor Margaret Midkiff was savagely slain. Witnesses agreed. But Brandon Gohagen, whose DNA was the only found, testified they forced him to rape the victim, then killed her. Sentenced to life without parole, they were imprisoned for 25 years before Michigan’s conviction integrity unit obtained their full exoneration. That happened two days ago. Wheels began really turning in 2017 when DNA evidence led to Gohagen’s conviction on a 1994 rape/murder. He’s since been tied to a dozen other sexual assaults.

3/12/22  Released in 2020 after spending forty-five years in prison, then acquitted in a retrial last year, Cleveland resident Isaiah Andrews, 84, was officially declared innocent in the 1974 murder of his wife. That conviction may have been driven by Andrews’ prior 15-year prison term for killing his Marine Corps sergeant. Police had originally developed a good suspect, but he was let go because of what now appears to be a mistake. That man was subsequently imprisoned for aggravated arson. He died in 2011.

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  On November 22, acting on motions of defense and prosecution, a Syracuse (NY) judge fully exonerated Anthony Broadwater, who was released from prison in 1998 after serving 16 years for a rape he insists he did not commit. His cause was taken up several years ago by a film maker who grew doubtful of the man’s guilt while researching a screen adaptation of “Lucky,” the debut novel by Alice Sebold, the rape victim. She originally had problems identifying Broadwater, but did so in court, and her testimony along with since-discredited microscopic hair comparison ultimately gained the conviction. (See 3/29/23 update)

11/19/21  On November 18 a Manhattan judge granted prosecutors’ motion to dismiss the murder convictions of Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam. In 1966 they and Mujahid Halim were convicted of the February, 1965 murder of Malcom X. Aziz and Islam drew life terms; Aziz was paroled in 1985 and Islam in 1987. Halim confessed but said the others were, as they claimed, innocent. It now turns out that the FBI and New York police withheld a trove of documents that “pointed away” from Aziz and Islam. On July 14, 2022, Aziz filed a $40 million Federal lawsuit against the city and the police.

11/13/21  North Carolina’s Governor granted a “Pardon of Innocence” to Montoyae Dontae Sharpe, whose 1995 murder conviction was based on an eyewitness account by a 15-year old girl who later admitted that her testimony “was entirely made up based on what she saw on television and what investigators told her.” Sharpe served 24 years in prison before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019. For an in-depth analysis of the case by the Duke Law school, click here.

11/9/21  On November 3, 2021 the L.A. City Council settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by Andrew Wilson for $14 million. Exonerated in 2018 after serving 32 years for murder, Wilson was reportedly convicted because an LAPD detective pointed out his picture to a witness while showing a photo array. California state law now requires, among other things, that photo lineups be administered “blindly,” that is, by someone who is unaware of who the suspect may be.

10/30/21  Eddie Bolden, a Chicago man who was convicted of a 1994 double murder, was awarded a record $25 million judgment against the city by a Federal jury. Two detectives who ignored Bolden’s strong alibi and coached a witness to identify him are each liable for $50,000. Their misconduct led a judge to release Bolden in 2016, after he served two decades in prison. Prosecutors declined to retry him and Bolden received a “certificate of innocence.” But the State still insists that he was indeed the killer.

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.