Possible Innocence – Sentence Commuted

The fol­low­ing for­mer death row inmates had their death sen­tences com­mut­ed to life in prison because of doubts about their guilt.

Kevin Keith

Ohio Conviction 1995, Commuted to Life: 2010

Governor Ted Strickland com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Kevin Keith to life with­out parole on September 2. Strickland grant­ed clemen­cy because of doubts that had been raised regard­ing Keith’s guilt, as well as con­cerns regard­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion of the case. The gov­er­nor said he was open to con­sid­er­ing the case fur­ther if new evi­dence emerges: ​“Should fur­ther evi­dence jus­ti­fy my doing so, I am pre­pared to review this mat­ter again for pos­si­ble further action.”

(Governor’s Statement, September 2, 2010).

Henry Lee Lucas

Texas Conviction: 1984, Commuted to Life: 1998

Lucas orig­i­nal­ly con­fessed to the mur­der of an unnamed hitch­hik­er in Texas in 1979. He also con­fessed to hun­dreds of oth­er mur­ders includ­ing the mur­der of Jimmy Hoffa and his fourth grade teacher, who is still alive. Most of his con­fes­sions have proved false. Two inves­ti­ga­tions by suc­ces­sive Attorneys General in Texas have con­clud­ed that he almost cer­tain­ly did not com­mit the mur­der for which he faced an exe­cu­tion date of June 30, 1998. Gov. George Bush com­mut­ed his sen­tence to life upon rec­om­men­da­tion of the Board of Pardons and Paroles in June, 1998.

Read ​“Serial Confessor” by Carley Petesch, Columbia University: 801, 2006. See ​“Henry Lee Lucas” by Katherine Ramsland, Court TV: Crime Library.

Joseph Payne

Virginia Conviction: 1986, Commuted to Life: 1996

Although the defense knew of 17 wit­ness­es will­ing to tes­ti­fy on Payne’s behalf, they only used one, and Payne was con­vict­ed of mur­der by arson of anoth­er inmate at the Powhatan Correctional Center in Virginia. While the jury was delib­er­at­ing, the pros­e­cu­tion offered Payne a plea where­by he would receive a sen­tence to run con­cur­rent­ly with the sen­tence he already was serv­ing, but the offer was refused because his lawyers thought an acquit­tal was like­ly. Instead, he was sen­tenced to death and was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on Nov. 7, 1996. The chief wit­ness against Payne, Robert Smith, received a 15 year reduc­tion in sen­tence. At one point, Smith admit­ted that he had lied at Payne’s tri­al. Three hours before his exe­cu­tion, and after Payne agreed not to appeal, Payne’s sen­tence was reduced to life with­out parole by Governor George Allen.

See ​“Death Sentence Commuted After Jurors’ Pleas” The New York Times, November 8, 1996. Read ​“Virginia Prisoner Receives Rare Mercy on Death Row” by Mike Allen, The New York Times, November 10, 1996.

Herbert Bassette

Virginia Conviction: 1979, Commuted to Life: 1992

Bassette was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing a gas sta­tion atten­dant in 1979. Doubt lat­er arose about the tes­ti­mo­ny pre­sent­ed at tri­al, and a police state­ment indi­cat­ed that one of the wit­ness­es had impli­cat­ed anoth­er per­son in the killing. Governor Douglas Wilder com­mut­ed Bassette’s sen­tence to life with­out parole after express­ing doubts about the conviction.

Joseph Giarratano

Virginia Convicted: 1979, Commuted to Life: 1991

In 1979, Joseph Giarratano awoke from a drug-induced sleep and found that his room­mate Barbara Kline and her daugh­ter had been mur­dered. With no mem­o­ry of the pre­vi­ous night, Giarratano assumed he had killed the two. He turned him­self into the police and con­fessed. Later dis­cov­ered evi­dence, how­ev­er, sug­gests that Giarratano is inno­cent. His con­fes­sions con­tra­dict them­selves, and phys­i­cal evi­dence sug­gests Giarratano was not the mur­der­er. Footprints and pubic hairs found at the scene did not match Giarratano’s and experts assert Kline was stabbed by a right-hand­ed assailant; Giarratano is left-hand­ed. Three days before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion in 1991, Governor Douglas Wilder com­mut­ed Giarratano’s death sen­tence to life impris­on­ment and left open the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a new tri­al. Virginia’s attor­ney gen­er­al, how­ev­er, indi­cat­ed that she would not re-try the case. Twenty-six years lat­er, the Virginia State Parole Board vot­ed to grant Giarratano parole.

See ​“Legal Scholar on Death Row Fights to Halt Own Execution” by David Margolick, The New York Times, March 5, 1990. Read ​“Last Plea by Condemned Inmate Who Has Rare Blend of Defenders” by Drummond Ayres Jr., The New York Times, February 17, 1991. Read ​“Joseph M. Giarratano, con­tro­ver­sial for­mer death row inmate, grant­ed parole” by Frank Green, Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 21, 2017.

Ronald S. Monroe

Louisiana Conviction: Commuted to Life: 1989

Monroe had been con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his next-door neigh­bor, based main­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of the wom­an’s chil­dren. Later, the vic­tim’s hus­band was con­vict­ed of killing his new wife in a man­ner sim­i­lar to the way in which the first woman was killed. While in prison, the hus­band all but admit­ted killing his first wife. Governor Buddy Roemer com­mut­ed Monroe’s death sen­tence to life because of doubts about his guilt.

Read ​“Governor of Louisiana To Spare Inmate’s Life” by Peter Applebome, The New York Times, August 17, 1989.