On December 9, 2003, Nicholas James Yarris of Pennsylvania became the 10th per­son to be exon­er­at­ed from death row in 2003, equalling the most exon­er­a­tions in a sin­gle year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed. He is the nation’s 112th death row exoneree. Yarris’s con­vic­tion was ini­tial­ly over­turned when three DNA tests of the foren­sic tri­al evi­dence exclud­ed him. His exon­er­a­tion became final when Delaware County pros­e­cu­tors announced that they were drop­ping all charges against him. In July, attor­neys for Yarris announced that DNA tests exclud­ed him from the rape and mur­der for which he was con­vict­ed. Yarris, 41, has spent 21 years on Pennsylvania’s death row, and has always main­tained his inno­cence. Yarris is Pennsylvania’s fifth death row exoneree since 1986, and he is the first per­son in the state to be freed based on DNA evi­dence. The state has exe­cut­ed three peo­ple since it reen­act­ed the death penal­ty in 1974. The 10 death row exon­er­a­tions in the U.S. in 2003 equals the high­est num­ber since 1973, when states began enact­ing new death penal­ty laws. Ten inmates were also freed in 1987. Of the 112 exon­er­a­tions, 13 have been as a result of DNA evi­dence. Read DPIC’s Press Release. See Innocence.

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