Two More Exonerations From Death Row: 137^th and 138^th Persons Freed in Oklahoma

Two former death row inmates who were charged with murder in a 1993 drive-by shooting were released on October 2 after spending nearly 14 years in prison, including years on Oklahoma’s death row. District Attorney David Prater dropped charges against Yancy Douglas (left),35, and Paris Powell (right), 36, after deciding the state’s key witness was unreliable. “Ethically, and on my duty, I could not proceed in this case and had to dismiss it,” Prater said. Derrick Smith, a rival gang member to the defendants and the state’s main witness, was one of the apparent targets in the shooting. A federal appeals court in 2006 found that Smith had received a deal from the prosecutors that was not revealed to the defense and overturned Powell’s conviction. Douglas was denied relief until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit overturned his conviction and affirmed Powell’s reversal in 2009. Smith testified against Powell and Douglas in their earlier trials (Douglas, 1995, Powell, 1997), but later admitted he never saw who shot him, that he was drunk and high that night, and that he testified only because prosecutors had threatened him with more prison time.

The District Attorney added, “We all came to the opinion that without Derrick Smith, we did not have a case we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jack Fisher, Powell’s attorney, said his client has always maintained his innocence and that Powell’s release is “bittersweet. It should have happened a long time ago. It’s unfortunate that he had to spend 16 years of his life in jail. What it boils down to is they had no evidence he was guilty. The testimony that they used to convict him was false.”

(S. Murphy, “Two ex-death row inmates released from Oklahoma prison,” Associated Press, October 5, 2009; R. Surette, “Why 2 Death Row Inmates Were Set Free,” News9.com, Oct. 6, 2009). See Innocence.

Douglas was the 137th inmate exonerated from death row since 1973, and Powell is the 138th, according to a list of exonerations maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. Ten inmates have been exonerated and freed from Oklahoma. The criteria for inclusion on the list are: