In the course of research­ing the out­come of every death sen­tence since 1973 — more than 9,700 death sen­tences nation­wide — DPIC iden­ti­fied 12 cas­es not pre­vi­ous­ly includ­ed on the inno­cence list in which peo­ple who had been wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death were lat­er exon­er­at­ed. Read more about the cases below.

John Thomas Alford

North Carolina Conviction: 1975, Acquitted: 1976

John Thomas Alford was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1975. Alford was tried with a code­fen­dant who con­fessed to the mur­der. Alford pre­sent­ed evi­dence and wit­ness­es that he was not at the scene of the crime, but he was not allowed to offer his codefendant’s con­fes­sion as evi­dence of his inno­cence. The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed his con­vic­tion and sen­tence and ordered Alford be retried sep­a­rate­ly from his code­fen­dant. At retri­al, he was acquit­ted of all charges.

Sources: State v. Alford, 222 S.E.2d 222 (N.C. 1976).

Charles Lee Bufford

Alabama Conviction 1978, Acquitted: 1981

Charles Lee Bufford was con­vict­ed for the April 1977 mur­der of a promi­nent local politi­cian. Bufford’s con­vic­tion was over­turned on appeal as a result of the tri­al court’s con­sid­er­a­tion of improp­er aggra­vat­ing fac­tors. On retri­al, the defense raised ques­tions about the accu­ra­cy of Bufford’s state­ment to police and the inves­ti­ga­tion of the case. Bufford was acquit­ted of all charges.

Sources: Bufford v. State, 382 So.2d 1162 (Ala. 1980); Jackie Walburn, Bufford jurors had ​‘rea­son­able doubt’, The Selma Times-Journal, November 13, 1981. 

Anthony Carey

North Carolina Conviction: 1973, Charges Dismissed: 1974

Anthony Carey was tried and sen­tenced to death along with his broth­er, Albert Carey, in 1973 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Neither of the broth­ers were accused of com­mit­ting the mur­der in ques­tion; how­ev­er both were sen­tenced to death as accom­plices. Anthony Carey was alleged­ly a pas­sen­ger in a car parked mul­ti­ple blocks away from where the crime was com­mit­ted and did not han­dle the gun involved in the mur­der. Anthony Carey’s con­vic­tion relied pri­mar­i­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of the shoot­er, James Mitchell, who had entered into a plea deal with pros­e­cu­tors. Mitchell recant­ed his tes­ti­mo­ny after the Careys were con­vict­ed but before the tri­al of two oth­er code­fen­dants. Both broth­ers’ death sen­tences were reversed in 1974 by the North Carolina Supreme Court. Albert Carey was retried and sen­tenced to death again, but the pros­e­cu­tor dropped charges against Anthony Carey because there was insuf­fi­cient evi­dence to retry him with­out Mitchell’s testimony. 

Sources: State v. Carey, 206 S.E.2d 213 (N.C. 1974); Ed Martin, Death Row: Legal rul­ings sent some from brink of death to free­dom, The Charlotte News, March 15, 1984.

Justin Cruz

Texas Conviction: 1984, Appellate Acquittal: 1985

Justin Cruz was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1984. His con­vic­tion was based heav­i­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of an alleged accom­plice with­out phys­i­cal evi­dence link­ing him to the crime. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the evi­dence was insuf­fi­cient to con­vict because it was based on uncor­rob­o­rat­ed accom­plice tes­ti­mo­ny and ordered Cruz to be acquitted.

Sources: Cruz v. State, 690 S.W.2d 246 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985).

Bonnie Erwin

Texas Conviction: 1985, Charges Dismissed: 1989

Bonnie Erwin was sen­tenced to death in Smith County, Texas in 1985. During Erwin’s tri­al, the court failed to com­pel the tes­ti­mo­ny of a wit­ness who was sub­poe­naed for tri­al but did not appear in court. The wit­ness would have cast doubt upon Erwin’s involve­ment and instead impli­cat­ed a co-defen­dant who had blamed Erwin for the crime. In 1987, this con­vic­tion was vacat­ed because of the tri­al court’s refusal to issue a writ of attach­ment to secure the witness’s tes­ti­mo­ny. State pros­e­cu­tors declined to retry Erwin and dis­missed all charges. Erwin remains in fed­er­al prison for drug trafficking crimes. 

Sources: Erwin v. State, 729 S.W.2d 709 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987); Erwin v. Henman, No. 90 – 3117-RDR, 1992 WL 331307 (D. Kan. Oct. 21, 1992).

Andre Minnitt

Arizona Conviction: 1993; Charges Dismissed: 2002

In 1993, Andre Minnitt was sen­tenced to death for a triple mur­der in Tucson at El Grande Market. Minnitt was tried with co-defen­dant Christopher McCrimmon. After the ver­dict had been read, the judge con­duct­ed a poll of the jurors to ensure they all agreed with the ver­dict. One juror was unsure but, fol­low­ing the judge’s urg­ing, assent­ed to the ver­dict. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the juror was coerced, and it vacat­ed Minnitt’s and McCrimmon’s con­vic­tions and death sentences. 

Minnitt’s first retri­al in 1997 result­ed in a mis­tri­al, but a sub­se­quent 1999 retri­al result­ed in anoth­er con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. In 2002, the Arizona Supreme Court once again vacat­ed the con­vic­tion. The court held that Minnitt’s 1999 retri­al should have been barred by dou­ble jeop­ardy because dur­ing his ​“1993 and 1997 tri­als the pros­e­cu­tor engaged in extreme mis­con­duct that he knew was gross­ly improp­er and high­ly prej­u­di­cial, both as to the defen­dant and to the integri­ty of the sys­tem.” The court found that pros­e­cu­tor Kenneth Peasley, who was sub­se­quent­ly dis­barred, had pur­pose­ful­ly elicit­ed false wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny. The court ordered the charges against Minnitt to be dismissed.

Sources: State v. McCrimmon, 187 Ariz. 169, 927 P.2d 1298 (1996); State v. Minnitt, 203 Ariz. 431, 55 P.3d 774 (2002).

Thomas Pearson

Ohio Conviction: 1976, Appellate Acquittal: 1980

In September 1976, Avila Chambliss impli­cat­ed him­self, Thomas Pearson, and Samuel Taylor in the mur­der and rob­bery of Joseph Witcraft. Pearson was tried indi­vid­u­al­ly before a jury that con­vict­ed him of aggra­vat­ed mur­der, aggra­vat­ed rob­bery and kid­nap­ping. As a result, the tri­al court sen­tenced him to death. Pearson’s con­vic­tion was vacat­ed on appeal because the only evi­dence con­nect­ing the defen­dants with the crime was the uncor­rob­o­rat­ed tes­ti­mo­ny of an accom­plice. Because Pearson’s con­vic­tion was vacat­ed for insuf­fi­cient evi­dence, the case was inel­i­gi­ble for retrial.

Sources: State v. Pearson, 405 N.E.2d 296 (Ohio 1980).

Gary Radi

Montana Conviction: 1975, Acquitted: 1978

Gary Radi was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1975 for the mur­der of a gro­cery store employ­ee dur­ing the course of a rob­bery. Radi was tried togeth­er with three code­fen­dants. Edwin Bushman received immu­ni­ty from pros­e­cu­tion in exchange for tes­ti­mo­ny impli­cat­ing the four defen­dants, and the defense pre­sent­ed no evi­dence at tri­al. The Montana Supreme Court reversed Radi’s and the oth­er defen­dants’ con­vic­tions, rul­ing that the defen­dants should have been tried sep­a­rate­ly. In 1978, Radi was acquit­ted on retrial.

Sources: Fitzpatrick v. McCormick, 869 F.2d 1247 (9th Cir. 1989).

Howard Jackson Stack

Georgia Conviction: 1973, Charges Dismissed: 1975

Howard Jackson Stack was sen­tenced to death in 1973 in Fulton County, Georgia. Stack’s code­fen­dant pled guilty to vol­un­tary manslaugh­ter and received a sen­tence of 15 years in exchange for tes­ti­fy­ing against Stack. In 1975, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed Stack’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence on the grounds that the tri­al court had improp­er­ly allowed the oper­a­tor of a lie detec­tor test to tes­ti­fy in court. Prosecutors declined to retry Stack.

Sources: Stack v. State, 214 S.E.2d 514 (Ga. 1975).

Charles Tolliver

Ohio Conviction: 1986, Acquitted: 1988

In 1986, Charles Tolliver was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by an all-white jury for killing two men. After con­duct­ing a post-tri­al hear­ing on Tolliver’s motion for a new tri­al, the tri­al court ruled that Cuyahoga County pros­e­cu­tors had uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly exer­cised their peremp­to­ry chal­lenges to remove jurors on the basis of race. Tolliver was acquit­ted of the aggra­vat­ed mur­der charges on retrial. 

Sources: Man set free, The Marion Star, November 18, 1988.

Claude Wilkerson

Texas Conviction: 1979, Charges Dismissed: 1987 

Claude Wilkerson was con­vict­ed in 1979 for a rob­bery and mur­der that occurred at a Houston jew­el­ry store. Wilkerson’s con­vic­tion was vacat­ed in 1983 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals when it ruled that the tri­al court erred in admit­ting state­ments tak­en from Wilkerson ille­gal­ly by the police with­out an attor­ney present. Prosecutors dis­missed all charges against Wilkerson in 1987.

Sources: Wilkerson v. State, 657 S.W.2d 784 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983); Prosecutors Drop Wilkerson Case, Victoria Advocate, Oct 16, 1987.

Eugene Allen

California — Conviction: 1976, Acquitted: 1981

In November 1973, while incar­cer­at­ed in a state prison facil­i­ty, Eugene Allen and co-defen­dant Ernest (Shujaa) Graham were charged with killing a state cor­rec­tion­al offi­cer. Their first tri­al result­ed in a mis­tri­al when the jury could not agree on a ver­dict. They were sen­tenced to death in 1976 after their sec­ond tri­al. The Supreme Court of California reversed their con­vic­tions because the pros­e­cu­tion dis­crim­i­na­to­ri­ly exer­cised its peremp­to­ry chal­lenges to exclude Black prospec­tive jurors. The court found that Allen and Graham, both of whom are Black, ​“belonged to the group whose mem­bers the dis­trict attor­ney had exclud­ed where­as the alleged vic­tim was a mem­ber of the group to which [all] of the remain­ing jurors belong.” People v. Allen, 590 P.2d 30, 34 (Cal. 1979) (inter­nal cita­tions omit­ted). Their third tri­al end­ed in anoth­er hung jury, and both were acquit­ted by the jury in their fourth trial. 

Allen remains in prison on pri­or unrelated charges. 

Sources: Phil Bronstein, Two found not guilty in 4th tri­al on guard killing, San Francisco Examiner, March 20, 1981.