FORMER PENNSYLVANIA DEATH ROW INMATE EXONERATED AND FREED

After spend­ing more than half of his life on Pennsylvania’s death row for a crime he did not com­mit, Nicholas Yarris was released from prison on Friday, January 16. Yarris had been sen­tenced to death row in 1983 for the mur­der of Linda Craig and was cleared of all charges in December 2003 (see DPIC’s press release) after DNA evi­dence exclud­ed him from the crime. He remained jailed for weeks after he was exon­er­at­ed while author­i­ties recal­cu­lat­ed sen­tences he received in Florida for crimes he com­mit­ted after escap­ing from sher­if­f’s deputies in 1985. His case was on appeal at that time. Prosecutors now say they do not know who mur­dered Craig. (Associated Press, January 17, 2004) See Innocence.