Innocence

Listen to the fifth in a series of podcasts on death penalty issues (see also DPIC Podcasts). For a downloadable podcast about innocence, click here or use the player below.

For more information, see DPIC's Page on Innocence. The issue of innocence has again been gaining prominence.  Among the stories that are affecting public perception of the death penalty are the following:

An Historic Hearing

On August 17, 2009, the U. S. Supreme Court took the unusual step of favorably responding to an original petition from a defendant.   The Court ordered a lower court to  "receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes petitioner’s innocence." Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis (pictured) has drawn worldwide attention because of new evidence of his possible innocence, including the recantation of 7 of the 9 witnesses who testified against him at his trial. Read More

UPDATE: Hearing was held in District Court in Savannah Georgia.  In August 2010, the judge held that Davis had not proven his innocence by clear and convincing evidence.  In March 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently denied Davis's petitions for review and other relief.  See U.S. Sup. Ct.

UPDATE: Georgia executed Troy Davis on Sept. 21, 2011.

Have innocent inmates ever been executed?

There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,200 people executed since 1976 may have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence once the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients' lives can still be saved. (see possible cases of those executed who might have been innocent).

Recently, the case of Cameron Willingham (pictured) has been in the news. He was convicted of murdering his three children by arson in a 1991 house fire.  He was executed in 2004.  A new report from a national arson expert, prepared for the Texas Forensic Science Commission, has concluded that the original investigation of Willingham's case was seriously flawed and could not support a finding of arson.  Read More

See also: D. Grann, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?" The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 2009.

Exonerated

Since 1973, 138 people have been exonerated and freed from death row, including 9 in 2009.  Some were only freed because of extraordinary work by individuals outside the criminal justice system.