wrongful conviction
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Man Convicted of Double Murder 25 Years Ago Is Free After New Evidence Emerges
It’s an unfortunate reality that failings in the American judicial system often result in people being imprisoned who don’t deserve to be. These failings more often than not affect black men. While it’s long overdue, justice has finally been served to a man wrongfully convicted by the system. CBS News reports that after 25 years,…
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Innocence Project New Orleans: A Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years Is Forced to Trade the Truth for His Freedom
A New Orleans man who has long maintained he was wrongly convicted of murder experienced freedom for the first time in 42 years after a virtual deal with the devil won him his liberty, if not true justice. Elvis Brooks, now 62, walked out of Louisiana’s infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, nicknamed “Angola,” on Wednesday after…
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Police Interrogation Firm Sues Ava DuVernay and Netflix, Claiming Defamation for When They See Us
John E. Reid and Associates, the firm behind the controversial police interrogation method the Reid Technique, has filed a federal lawsuit against When They See Us writer and director Ava DuVernay and network Netflix for defamation, according to Variety. The firm was founded by John E. Reid, a former Chicago police officer. When They See…
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New Louisiana Law Allows Expert Testimony on the Flaws of Eyewitness Accounts of Crimes
In 1971, when Wilbert Jones was just 19 years old, he was arrested and charged with kidnapping a nurse at gunpoint from the parking lot of a hospital in Baton Rouge, La., and raping her behind a building. As previously reported by The Root, the state’s case against Jones relied heavily on the testimony and…
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San Francisco Man Gets $13M Settlement After Being Falsely Framed for Murder by Police
A San Francisco man will receive a $13.1-million settlement after being framed by police and spending years in prison for a 2007 murder he did not commit. As a young man, Jamal Trulove was tried and convicted in the killing of his friend Seu Kuka in a San Francisco housing project. A state appeals court…
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‘Evilest White Woman on Earth’: The Criminal Injustice of Terra Morehead
Warning: This story is not about America’s criminal-justice system. In this story, America’s criminal-justice system is a parable. In this story, “criminal” is synonymous with “not white.” In this story, “justice” is a mythical concept. In this story, Terra Morehead is synonymous with “injustice.” In this story, “injustice” is the only thing that is real.…
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The Unofficial Gag Order of Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown): 16 Years in Prison, Still Not Allowed to Speak
At the modern intersection of Islamophobia and the Black Lives Matter movement resides Jamil Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown), the now forgotten civil rights activist and revolutionary leader who, 16 years ago this year, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Fulton County, Ga., Sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Leon Kinchen and the wounding of…
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A Missouri Man Has Already Served Almost 2 Decades in Prison for a Murder He Didn’t Commit, but He Still Has Not Been Freed
David Robinson has already spent almost 20 years of his life in prison for a murder he did not commit. This is despite the fact that another man confessed to the murder a mere three years after he was convicted. This is despite the fact that in February a state judge acknowledged his innocence and…
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Innocent Man Awarded $1 Million After Spending 31 Years in Prison for Crime He Didn’t Commit
Lawrence McKinney, 61, was given $1 million in compensation Wednesday after DNA evidence cleared him of a wrongful 1978 conviction for rape and burglary. He spent nearly 32 years in prison before being freed in 2009, according to HuffPost. Nashville, Tenn., attorney David Raybin, who has represented McKinney for six years, called the compensation “bittersweet.”…
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Louisiana Man Exonerated by DNA Evidence After Serving Nearly 38 Years in Prison for Rape He Didn’t Commit
Malcolm Alexander, who was just 21 years old when he was wrongfully convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to life in Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), was released from prison Monday after Jefferson Parish Judge June Darensburg overturned his conviction. Darensburg made her decision after a reinvestigation by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office determined that…