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Entries tagged with “Jailhouse informants”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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May 01, 2017

BOOKS: ​“The Trials of Walter Ogrod” Chronicles Pennsylvania Possible Innocence Case

Walter Ogrod was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in Philadelphia in 1996 for the 1988 mur­der of a 4‑year-old girl, whose body was found in a dis­card­ed tele­vi­sion box. Ogrod, who is devel­op­men­tal­ly dis­abled, has long main­tained his inno­cence, but despite sig­nif­i­cant irreg­u­lar­i­ties in the case and amidst alle­ga­tions of offi­cial mis­con­duct, local pros­e­cu­tors have fought efforts to obtain DNA test­ing of the phys­i­cal evi­dence and to inves­ti­gate the role a dis­cred­it­ed prison infor­mant played in…

Policy Issues

Prosecutorial Accountability

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Representation

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Aug 09, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of August 3, 2020

NEWS (8/​6/​20) — Connecticut: The Connecticut Supreme Court grant­ed a new tri­al to for­mer death-row pris­on­er Lazale Ashby. The court ruled that the pros­e­cu­tion had vio­lat­ed Ashby’s Sixth Amendment right to coun­sel ​“by using a jail­house infor­mant … to delib­er­ate­ly elic­it cer­tain incrim­i­nat­ing state­ments from the defen­dant.” The court said that the infor­mant, who had a past his­to­ry of pro­vid­ing assis­tance to pros­e­cu­tors, had been act­ing as an agent of the state when he extracted…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Aug 16, 2021

NBC’s ​‘Dateline’ Investigates the Wrongful Capital Conviction of Death-Row Exoneree Walter Ogrod

NBC’s true crime series, Dateline, fea­tured an episode on August 13, 2021 on the wrong­ful con­vic­tion and even­tu­al exon­er­a­tion of for­mer Philadelphia death-row pris­on­er Walter Ogrod (pic­tured). The episode, enti­tled ​“The Investigation,” is part of an NBC News series called ​“Justice for All” that reports on wrong­ful con­vic­tions and the U.S. crim­i­nal legal…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jun 01, 2020

One Day After Exposé of Informant Wins Journalism Award, Florida Trial Court Denies James Dailey’s Innocence Claim

A Florida judge has denied death-row pris­on­er James Dailey​’s motion for a new tri­al on May 29, 2020, rul­ing that no new admis­si­ble evi­dence sup­port­ed Dailey’s claim of inno­cence. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa’s deci­sion came just one day after jour­nal­ist Pamela Colloff won a National Magazine Award for her inves­ti­ga­tion of a noto­ri­ous jail­house infor­mant who pro­vid­ed key tes­ti­mo­ny against…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jun 21, 2004

POSSIBLE INNOCENCE: Newspaper Explores Case of Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate

In an exclu­sive two-part series titled ​“Snitch Work,” Philadelphia’s City Paper explores the pos­si­ble inno­cence of Pennsylvania death row inmate Walter Ogrod. Investigative writer Tom Lowenstein describes Ogrod’s first tri­al, which result­ed in a mis­tri­al when 11 of the 12 jurors vot­ed for acquit­tal. In Ogrod’s sec­ond tri­al in 1996, the state employed a noto­ri­ous jail­house snitch, John Hall, to strength­en their case against Ogrod, who con­tin­ued to main­tain his inno­cence. Lowenstein’s ​“Snitch…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Jun 09, 2020

Walter Ogrod Exonerated After 23 Years on Pennsylvania’s Death Row

Twenty-eight years after Philadelphia pros­e­cu­tors first sought to take his life for the mur­der of four-year-old Barbara Jean Horn, Walter Ogrod (pic­tured, sec­ond from right, with mem­bers of his defense team) has been exon­er­at­ed from Pennsylvania​’s death…