Ryan Matthews is Latest Exonoree

RYAN MATTHEWS IS LATEST INMATE FREED FROM DEATH ROW



On Monday, August 9, 2004, Ryan Matthews became the lat­est death row inmate to be freed, and the 14^th exon­er­at­ed with the help of DNA evi­dence. Matthews was sen­tenced to die in 1999 and spent near­ly five years on death row before being cleared of a mur­der that occurred just two weeks after his 17^th birth­day.

Matthews’ appel­late attor­neys had phys­i­cal evi­dence from his tri­al re-test­ed for DNA, and the results exclud­ed Matthews, point­ing instead to anoth­er inmate at Angola Prison. A new tri­al was ordered in April 2004 based upon the new DNA results and find­ings that the pros­e­cu­tion with­held evi­dence. Released on bond in June, Matthews was exon­er­at­ed when pros­e­cu­tors dropped all charges against him.

The U.S. Supreme Court will con­sid­er whether death sen­tences for 16- or 17-years-olds are con­sti­tu­tion­al in October. 

CLICK HERE For More on Matthew’s case

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CLICK HERE For more on the upcom­ing Supreme Court case