Entries tagged with “Walter Ogrod”
Issues
Nov 14, 2023
$9.1 million wrongful conviction settlement for Pennsylvania death row exoneree Walter Ogrod
Death-row exoneree Walter Ogrod’s federal lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and members of the Philadelphia Police Department was settled for $9.1 million on November 3, 2023. Mr. Ogrod, who was exonerated in 2020 after 23 years on death row, was initially convicted in 1996 based on a coerced confession and false testimony from jailhouse informants in a case further tainted by police and prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate legal representation at…
Issues
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.
Issues
Jul 06, 2020
Kareem Johnson Becomes Nation’s 170th Death-Row Exoneree Since 1973
Former Pennsylvania death-row prisoner Kareem Johnson has been exonerated, thirteen years after being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death by a Philadelphia jury. On July 1, 2020, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas completed his exoneration, formally entering an order dismissing all charges against him in his capital case. On May 19, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had barred his reprosecution because of…
Issues
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…
Issues
Executions Overview
,Jun 06, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 1, 2020
NEWS (6/5/20) — North Carolina: The North Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the state legislature’s attempted retroactive repeal of the state’s Racial Justice Act, restoring the rights of approximately 130 death-row prisoners to seek redress of death sentences that they had claimed were substantially affected by racial…
Issues
Victims' Families
,New Voices
,Apr 09, 2020
Victim’s Mother Joins Fight to Free “Likely Innocent” Death-Row Prisoner Walter Ogrod, Who Has Symptoms of Coronavirus
Saying she wanted justice for her murdered four-year-old daughter, not“a closed case with an innocent person in jail,” Sharon Fahy has joined with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and defense lawyers in the fight to immediately free Walter Ogrod (pictured) from Pennsylvania’s…
Issues
Mar 25, 2020
News Brief — Philadelphia Court Vacates Order for Medical Treatment of ‘Likely Innocent’ Death-Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms
NEWS (3/25/20): Pennsylvania — Citing lack of jurisdiction, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has vacated an emergency order it issued on Saturday that had directed the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PaDOC) to transport Walter Ogrod from death row to an independent hospital to obtain immediate testing and treatment for symptoms of the COVID-19…
Death Row
Conditions on Death Row
,Mar 21, 2020
News Brief — Philadelphia Court Orders Medical Treatment for Death-Row Prisoner With COVID-19 Symptoms
NEWS (3/21/20): Pennsylvania — In a rare Saturday ruling, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has granted an emergency motion filed on behalf of Pennsylvania death-row prisoner Walter Ogrod seeking his removal from state prison to obtain immediate testing and treatment for symptoms of the…
Issues
Conditions on Death Row
,Mar 20, 2020
Showing Coronavirus Symptoms, ‘Likely Innocent’ Death-Row Prisoner Seeks Emergency Medical Care
Exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus, a Philadelphia death-row prisoner who prosecutors now acknowledge is“likely innocent” and whose potential release has been delayed by the Philadelphia courts has filed an emergency motion to obtain testing and independent medical…
Issues
Mar 06, 2020
Philadelphia D.A. Says Death-Row Prisoner Walter Ogrod is ‘Likely Innocent’
After a review of the case by its Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office has told a state trial court that death-row prisoner Walter Ogrod (pictured) is“likely innocent,” that newly discovered evidence showed that city prosecutors had violated his right to due process, and that his conviction and death sentence…
Issues
Apr 10, 2018
After 22 Years, District Attorney’s Office to Examine Possible Innocence of Philadelphia Death-Row Prisoner
Twenty-two years after Walter Ogrod (pictured) was sentenced to death for a murder he insists he did not commit, a new Philadelphia District Attorney’s administration has dropped the office’s long-time opposition to Ogrod’s request for DNA testing and has referred the case for review by a revitalized Conviction Integrity…
Issues
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…
Issues
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.