Left to Right: Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian Abbington, Larry Roberts, and CHU Investigator Carlos Escobedo.
Larry Roberts, the 200th exoneree, was wrongfully convicted in 1983 for the murder of a fellow prisoner and prison guard at the California Medical Center in Vacaville, California. The only witnesses to these stabbings were fellow prisoners who testified against Mr. Roberts; he was sentenced to death for both killings. Years later, the California Supreme Court overturned Mr. Roberts’ conviction for the death of the prison guard but left his death sentence in place. After 41 years, the California Attorney General’s Office has now agreed with a U.S. district court judge who granted Mr. Roberts a new trial and has said it will not retry him. Mr. Roberts’ exoneration is a powerful reminder of the fallibility of the death penalty, and one more reason 50% of the American public no longer believes their government can fairly use the death penalty.
See the press release from Witness to Innocence here.
See the Death Penalty Information Center’s press release here.
See a list of all 200 exonerees and details about their cases here.
See our Innocence Database here.
