Thanks to addi­tion­al research by Prof. Samuel Gross of the University of Michigan, DPIC has learned that one of the indi­vid­u­als on its list of exon­er­at­ed death row inmates had con­ced­ed his guilt to a less­er offense in con­nec­tion with the crime that orig­i­nal­ly sent him to death row. He was, how­ev­er, acquit­ted on the mur­der charge. James Bo Cochran was orig­i­nal­ly found guilty of a 1976 mur­der in Alabama in con­nec­tion with a rob­bery at a gro­cery store. His first tri­al result­ed in a mis­tri­al and the con­vic­tions from his sec­ond and third tri­als were over­turned. When he was retried in 1997, a jury acquit­ted him of mur­der­ing the gro­cery store’s assis­tant man­ag­er. However, in an agree­ment made with pros­e­cu­tors pri­or to his release, it now appears that Cochran accept­ed guilt to a rob­bery charge. Earlier research had indi­cat­ed that he had been acquit­ted of all charges. Since inclu­sion on DPIC’s list requires not only the removal of the cap­i­tal con­vic­tion but also of all con­vic­tions relat­ed to the orig­i­nal offense, we can no longer include Cochran’s case on our list of exon­er­a­tions. The num­ber of exon­er­a­tions from death row since 1973 now stands at 138. Accurate research occa­sion­al­ly requires revi­sions based on new infor­ma­tion, and we are grate­ful to Prof. Gross, one of the nation’s lead­ing experts on the rever­sal of con­vic­tions, for this research. We regret any inconvenience.

(DPIC post­ed Nov. 29, 2010). See Innocence for the cri­te­ria for includ­ing a case on DPIC’s list of exonerated individuals.

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