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Joseph Sledge, 70, was jailed in 1976 for murdering Josephine Davis, 74, and daughter Aileen, 57, in North Carolina US.
However, almost four decades after he was locked up, the pensioner was released after new DNA evidence came to light. Read Mirror Article The number of U.S. criminals exonerated in 2014 climbed to a record high of 125, in part because of efforts by prosecutors willing to admit their offices made mistakes, according to a report just released.
Of the total known exonerations in 2014, more than half were obtained at the initiative or with the cooperation of law enforcement - the highest number in a single year, the report found. Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim, whose office covers the northern suburbs of Chicago, started an independent panel made up of retired judges, defense and civil rights attorneys to review cases. He said prosecutors should be leading the charge against wrongful convictions. "We're all on the same side - no prosecutor wants to wrongfully convict somebody," said Nerheim. "We all want the truth." Read full Huffington Post Article South Carolina, December 2014: On December 16, a South Carolina judge vacated the conviction of George Stinney, Jr., the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the last century. Judge Carmen Mullen wrote: “I can think of no greater injustice than the violation of one’s Constitutional rights which has been proven to me in this case.” Stinney, a black, 14-year-old boy, was convicted by an all-white jury of killing two young white girls.
Ohio, November 2014: A judge formally dropped the charges against Wiley Bridgeman, making him the 149th person exonerated from death row since 1973. Ohio,december 2014: Kwame Ajamu (formerly Ronnie Bridgeman) was formally exonerated of the 1975 murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death. Texas, Alfred Brown - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, vacated the conviction and death sentence of Alfred Brown, who has been on death row for murder since 2005. Brown has maintained his innocence and has said that a landline phone call he made from his girlfriend's apartment the morning of the murder would prove it. At his trial, Brown's attorneys presented no evidence of his alibi, and his girlfriend changed her testimony after she was threatened with prosecution. In 2013, a homicide detective found a box of records in his garage containing phone records that indicated Brown made a call exactly when he claimed. North Carolina, September 2014 - Longest death row serving prisoner (Henry McCollum) and his half brother (Leon Brown) exonerated after 30 years. Read more Evidence against Carl Dausch wasn't sufficient to convict him of the July 1987 murder of Adrian Mobley. The Court concluded: "At best, the evidence presented by the State creates a suspicion of guilt. Therefore, because we conclude that there is a lack of competent substantial evidence to support Dausch’s convictions, we reverse and vacate both of Dausch’s convictions and sentences. Ohio, May 2014 - Governor commutes the death sentence of A.Tyler - Read more Arthur Tyler (OH) had been convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death on January 19, 1986. He spent 28 years on death row in Ohio for a crime in which he has always maintained his innocence. As nearly half of death row inmates in the US, Arthur Tyler will be removed from death row. March 2014, Louisiana - Glenn Ford (LA), Louisiana's longest-serving death row prisoner, walked free after spending nearly 30 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. New information corroborated what Ford had said all along: that he was not present at nor involved in the November 5, 1983, slaying of Isadore Rozeman. Read more In 2014, executions decreased of 10% compared to 2013 – from 39 last year to 35 this year – continuing an overall decline since 1999, when there were 98 executions. Since 1973, 150 people have been exonerated and freed from death row. Read DPIC press release I was 18 when I was convicted of murdering my baby and sentenced to death, and 25 when I was finally found innocent.Sabrina Butler recounts her story READ TIME article |
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