Innocence and the Death Penalty

Posted: February 04, 2003

Innocence

The most recent exonerees are Seth Penalver (No. 142) of Florida and Damon Thibodeaux (No. 141) of Louisiana, both in 2012.

List of Exonerees Since 1973 (including criteria for inclusion on List)

Innocence Database Searchable database of all exonerations since 1973--allows you to search and sort for cases by year, state, race, and other variables.

Descriptions of Each Exoneration By Year of Inmate's Release:

Exoneration Statistics

Exonerations by State
Exonerations by Year
Exonerations by Race

News and Developments - Current Year

News and Developments - Previous Years -

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

Further Innocence Information:

Released From Death Row (Partial Innocence)
Executed Despite Doubts About Guilt
Causes of Wrongful Convictions
National Registry of Exonerations - provides detailed information about all known exonerations (for all crimes, not just death penalty crimes) in the United States since 1989 - cases in which a person was convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges.
DPIC's Summary of the Innocence Protection Act of 2004
List of Exonerations in German: Unschuldige und ihre Faelle in Kuerze

DPIC Resources:

Read DPIC's 2004 Innocence Report

Innocence and the Death Penalty, 1997

Innocence and the Death Penalty, 1993

To contact individuals who have been exonerated from death row, visit

Witness to Innocence

For Information about Innocence Projects across the country, visit

The Innocence Project
The Innocence Project Northwest

EXONERATIONS BY STATE

As of December 26, 2012 there have been 142 exonerations in 26 different States.

State	No	State	No	State	No	State	No	State	No
Florida	24	Arizona	8	Georgia	5	Mississippi	3	Kentucky	1
Illinois	20	North Carolina	7	New Mexico	4	Tennessee	3	Maryland	1
Texas	12	Pennsylvania	6	California	3	Indiana	2	Nebraska	1
Oklahoma	10	Ohio	6	Massachusetts	3	South Carolina	2	Nevada	1
Louisiana	9	Alabama	5	Missouri	3	Idaho	1	Virginia	1
								Washington	1

EXONERATIONS BY YEAR From 1973-1999, there was an average of 3.03 exonerations per year. From 2000-2011, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year.

To find the number of exonerations in any single year, use the innocence database.

EXONERATIONS BY RACE

RACE	EXONERATIONS
Black	71
White	57
Latino	12
Other	2

Last Updated Feb. 11, 2013

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From DPIC

Texas and Defense File Joint Motion for DNA Testing in Death Penalty Case

But State Has Lost Key Piece of Evidence

On June 12, the state of Texas joined with defense attorneys for Henry Skinner in filing a motion with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn a prior court decision denying DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene in Skinner's case. Skinner was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1995. He has repeatedly sought DNA testing of blood found on items near the victim. The state conducted testing on some items prior to Skinner's trial, but refused testing on other materials during the appeals. These refusals were recently upheld by a Texas District Court in 2011.

Robert Owen, an attorney for Skinner, expressed concern about the state's losing a bloody jacket (see photo) found near the victim's body:

We are pleased to have reached an agreement that finally secures DNA testing in this case, but there remains reason for grave concern. It appears that no DNA testing will be performed on perhaps the key piece of evidence collected by the police at the crime scene - the sweat-stained, blood-spattered men's windbreaker jacket found next to Twila Busby's body. From the earliest days of his fight for DNA testing, Mr. Skinner has insisted that this jacket should be tested because it may have been worn by the assailant. Moreover, since trial, a witness has positively identified the jacket from a photograph as one regularly worn by Twila Busby's uncle Robert Donnell who was seen stalking Twila at a party shortly before her death. It is beyond reasonable dispute that DNA testing on this jacket is critically important to the reliable determination of guilt in this case.

(See Skinner v. Texas, No. AP-76,675 (Tx. Ct. Crim. App. June 12, 2012) (Joint Motion for Order of DNA Testing)).

From DPIC

Innocence

Podcast

Listen to the fifth in a series of podcasts on death penalty issues (see also DPIC Podcasts). For a downloadable podcast about innocence, click here.

For more information, see DPIC's Page on Innocence. The issue of innocence has again been gaining prominence. Among the stories that are affecting public perception of the death penalty are the following:

An Historic Hearing

On August 17, 2009, the U. S. Supreme Court took the unusual step of favorably responding to an original petition from a defendant. The Court ordered a lower court to "receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes petitioner’s innocence." Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis (pictured) has drawn worldwide attention because of new evidence of his possible innocence, including the recantation of 7 of the 9 witnesses who testified against him at his trial. Read More

UPDATE: Hearing was held in District Court in Savannah Georgia. In August 2010, the judge held that Davis had not proven his innocence by clear and convincing evidence. In March 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently denied Davis's petitions for review and other relief. See U.S. Sup. Ct.

UPDATE: Georgia executed Troy Davis on Sept. 21, 2011.

Have innocent inmates ever been executed?

There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,200 people executed since 1976 may have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence once the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients' lives can still be saved. (see possible cases of those executed who might have been innocent).

Recently, the case of Cameron Willingham (pictured) has been in the news. He was convicted of murdering his three children by arson in a 1991 house fire. He was executed in 2004. A new report from a national arson expert, prepared for the Texas Forensic Science Commission, has concluded that the original investigation of Willingham's case was seriously flawed and could not support a finding of arson. Read More

See also: D. Grann, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?" The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 2009.