122^nd Inmate Freed From Death Row

Harold Wilson is the 6^th Person Exonerated in Pennsylvania

More than 16 years after a Pennsylvania jury returned three death sen­tences against Harold Wilson, new DNA evi­dence has led to his acquit­tal. During Wilson’s 1989 cap­i­tal tri­al, the pros­e­cu­tion used racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry prac­tices in select­ing the jury.

In 1999, Wilson’s death sen­tence was over­turned when a court deter­mined that his defense coun­sel had failed to inves­ti­gate and present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence dur­ing his orig­i­nal tri­al. A lat­er appeal led to the over­turn­ing of his con­vic­tion and a new tri­al because of the race bias in select­ing the jury. The court held that at the new tri­al the death penal­ty could not be sought. On November 15, 2005, a new jury that did not have to be ​“death-qual­i­fied” and that was prop­er­ly cho­sen, acquit­ted Wilson of all charges. DNA evi­dence revealed that blood from the crime scene did not come from Wilson or any of the vic­tims, a find­ing sug­gest­ing the involve­ment of another assailant. 

EXONERATIONS BY STATE
Since 1973

STATE — NUMBER
Florida — 21
Massachusetts — 3
Illinois — 18
Missouri — 3
Louisiana — 8
Indiana — 2
Texas — 8
So. Carolina — 2
Arizona — 8
Idaho — 1
Oklahoma — 7
Kentucky — 1
Pennsylvania — 6
Maryland — 1
Georgia — 5
Mississippi — 2
No. Carolina — 5
Nebraska — 1
Alabama — 5
Nevada — 1
Ohio — 5
Virginia — 1
New Mexico — 4
Washington — 1
California — 3

Read DPIC’s Press Release. See Innocence.