A fed­er­al judge in Pennsylvania over­turned the con­vic­tion of a death row inmate, stat­ing he was ​“sen­tenced to die for a crime in all prob­a­bil­i­ty he did not com­mit.” U.S. District Court Judge Anita Brody found errors in all facets of the case, not­ing that ​“Improper police work char­ac­ter­ized near­ly the entire­ty of the inves­ti­ga­tion.” She described the pros­e­cu­tion as ​“a grave mis­car­riage of jus­tice,” and crit­i­cized the defense for fail­ing to ade­quate­ly inves­ti­gate the evi­dence. The pre­sen­ta­tion of evi­dence in the penal­ty phase of the tri­al took only about 3 hours. The defen­dant, James Dennis, has been on death row for over 20 years, hav­ing been con­vict­ed of the 1991 mur­der of a high school stu­dent. No foren­sic evi­dence linked him to the crime, police ignored oth­er leads, and pros­e­cu­tors failed to hand over evi­dence to the defense. Evidence cor­rob­o­rat­ing Dennis’s ali­bi — that he was rid­ing a bus far from the crime scene at the time of the mur­der — was lost by the pros­e­cu­tion. In 2011, the gov­er­nor signed his death war­rant, but the exe­cu­tion was stayed.

The judge ordered the state to retry Dennis with­in 6 months or set him free.

(J. Martin, ​“Citing ​‘mis­car­riage of jus­tice,’ judge over­turns mur­der con­vic­tion,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2013; Dennis v. Wetzel, No. 11 – 1660 U.S. Dist. (E.D. Pa., Aug. 21, 2013)). Six inmates have been exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row in Pennsylvania. See Innocence and Representation.

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