Seit Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe in den USA

No.* Anzahl	Name	State Staat	Year of Conviction Jahr der Verhaftung	Year of Exoneration Jahr der Befreiung	Years between Conviction and Exoneration	Race of Defendant Rasse des Verurteilten	DNA
1.	David Keaton	FL	1971	1973	2	B
2.	Samuel A. Poole	NC	1973	1974	1	B
3.	Wilbert Lee	FL	1963	1975	12	B
4.	Freddie Pitts	FL	1963	1975	12	B
5.	James Creamer	GA	1973	1975	2	W
6.	Thomas Gladish	NM	1974	1976	2	W
7.	Richard Greer	NM	1974	1976	2	W
8.	Ronald Keine	NM	1974	1976	2	W
9.	Clarence Smith	NM	1974	1976	2	W
10.	Delbert Tibbs	FL	1974	1977	3	B
11.	Earl Charles	GA	1975	1978	3	B
12.	Jonathan Treadway	AZ	1975	1978	3	W
13.	Gary Beeman	OH	1976	1979	3	W
14.	Jerry Banks	GA	1975	1980	5	B
15.	Larry Hicks	IN	1978	1980	2	B
16.	Charles Ray Giddens	OK	1978	1981	3	B
17.	Michael Linder	SC	1979	1981	2	W
18.	Johnny Ross	LA	1975	1981	6	B
19.	Annibal Jaramillo	FL	1981	1982	1	L
20.	Lawyer Johnson	MA	1971	1982	11	B
21.	Anthony Brown	FL	1983	1986	3	B
22.	Neil Ferber	PA	1982	1986	4	W
23.	Clifford Henry Bowen	OK	1981	1986	5	W
24.	Joseph Green Brown	FL	1974	1987	13	B
25.	Perry Cobb	IL	1979	1987	8	B
26.	Darby (Williams) Tillis	IL	1979	1987	8	B
27.	Henry Drake	GA	1977	1987	10	W
28.	John Henry Knapp	AZ	1974	1987	13	W
29.	Vernon McManus	TX	1977	1987	10	W
30.	Anthony Ray Peek	FL	1978	1987	9	B
31.	Juan Ramos	FL	1983	1987	4	L
32.	Robert Wallace	GA	1980	1987	7	B
33.	Richard Neal Jones	OK	1983	1987	4	W
34.	Jerry Bigelow	CA	1980	1988	8	W
35.	Willie Brown	FL	1983	1988	5	B
36.	Larry Troy	FL	1983	1988	5	B
37.	William Jent	FL	1980	1988	8	W
38.	Earnest Miller	FL	1980	1988	8	W
39.	Randall Dale Adams	TX	1977	1989	12	W
40.	Jesse Keith Brown	SC	1983	1989	6	W
41.	Robert Cox	FL	1988	1989	1	W
42.	Timothy Hennis	NC	1986	1989	3	W
43.	James Richardson	FL	1968	1989	21	B
44.	Clarence Brandley	TX	1981	1990	9	B
45.	Patrick Croy	CA	1979	1990	11	N
46.	John C. Skelton	TX	1983	1990	7	W
47.	Dale Johnston	OH	1984	1990	6	W
48.	Jimmy Lee Mathers	AZ	1987	1990	3	W
49.	Gary Nelson	GA	1980	1991	11	B
50.	Bradley P. Scott	FL	1988	1991	3	W
51.	Charles Smith	IN	1983	1991	8	B
52.	Jay C. Smith	PA	1986	1992	6	W
53.	Kirk Bloodsworth	MD	1984	1993	9	W	Yes
54.	Federico M. Macias	TX	1984	1993	9	L
55.	Walter McMillian	AL	1988	1993	5	B
56.	Gregory R. Wilhoit	OK	1987	1993	6	W
57.	James Robison	AZ	1977	1993	16	W
58.	Muneer Deeb	TX	1985	1993	8	O
59.	Andrew Golden	FL	1991	1994	3	W
60.	Joseph Burrows	IL	1989	1994	5	W
61.	Adolph Munson	OK	1985	1995	10	B
62.	Robert Charles Cruz	AZ	1981	1995	14	L
63.	Rolando Cruz	IL	1985	1995	10	L	Yes
64.	Alejandro Hernandez	IL	1985	1995	10	L	Yes
65.	Sabrina Butler	MS	1990	1995	5	B
66.	Verneal Jimerson	IL	1985	1996	11	B	Yes
67.	Dennis Williams	IL	1979	1996	17	B	Yes
68.	Roberto Miranda	NV	1982	1996	14	L
69.	Gary Gauger	IL	1993	1996	3	W
70.	Troy Lee Jones	CA	1982	1996	14	B
71.	Carl Lawson	IL	1990	1996	6	B
72.	Ricardo Aldape Guerra	TX	1982	1997	15	L
73.	Benjamin Harris	WA	1985	1997	12	B
74.	Robert Hayes	FL	1991	1997	6	B
75.	Randall Padgett	AL	1992	1997	5	W
76.	Robert Lee Miller, Jr.	OK	1988	1998	10	B	Yes
77.	Curtis Kyles	LA	1984	1998	14	B
78.	Shareef Cousin	LA	1996	1999	3	B
79.	Anthony Porter	IL	1983	1999	16	B
80.	Steven Smith	IL	1985	1999	14	B
81.	Ronald Williamson	OK	1988	1999	11	W	Yes
82.	Ronald Jones	IL	1989	1999	10	B	Yes
83.	Clarence Dexter, Jr.	MO	1991	1999	8	W
84.	Warren Douglas Manning	SC	1989	1999	10	B
85.	Alfred Rivera	NC	1997	1999	2	L
86.	Steve Manning	IL	1993	2000	7	W
87.	Eric Clemmons	MO	1987	2000	13	B
88.	Joseph Nahume Green	FL	1993	2000	7	B
89.	Earl Washington	VA	1984	2000	16	B	Yes
90.	William Nieves	PA	1994	2000	6	L
91.	Frank Lee Smith -died prior to exoneration	FL	1986	2000	14	B	Yes
92.	Michael Graham	LA	1987	2000	13	W
93.	Albert Burrell	LA	1987	2000	13	W
94.	Peter Limone	MA	1968	2001	33	W
95.	Gary Drinkard	AL	1995	2001	6	W
96.	Joaquin Jose Martinez	FL	1997	2001	4	L
97.	Jeremy Sheets	NE	1997	2001	4	W
98.	Charles Fain	ID	1983	2001	18	W	Yes
99.	Juan Roberto Melendez	FL	1984	2002	18	L
100.	Ray Krone	AZ	1992	2002	10	W	Yes
101.	Thomas Kimbell, Jr.	PA	1998	2002	4	W
102.	Larry Osborne	KY	1999	2002	3	W
103.	Rudolph Holton	FL	1987	2003	16	B
104.	Aaron Patterson	IL	1986	2003	17	B
105.	Madison Hobley	IL	1987	2003	16	B
106.	Leroy Orange	IL	1984	2003	19	B
107.	Stanley Howard	IL	1987	2003	16	B
108	John Thompson	LA	B	1985	2003	18
109	Timothy Howard	OH	B	1976	2003	26
110	Gary Lamar James	OH	B	1976	2003	26
111	Joseph Amrine	MO	B	1986	2003	17
112	Nicholas Yarris	PA	W	1982	2003	21
113	Alan Gell	NC	W	1998	2004	6
114	Gordon Steidl	IL	W	1987	2004	17
115	Dan L. Bright	LA	B	1996	2004	8
116	Ryan Matthews	LA	B	1999	2004	5	Yes
117	Ernest Ray Willis	TX	W	1987	2004	17

Ohio

Ohio Inmate Becomes the 119th Innocent Person Freed from Death Row

On February 28, 2005, Ohio Common Pleas Judge Richard Niehaus dismissed
all charges against Derrick Jamison for the death of a Cincinnati
bartender after prosecutors elected not to retry him in the case.
(Associated Press, March 3, 2005). The prosecution had withheld critical
eyewitness statements and other evidence from the defense resulting in the
overturning of Jamison's conviction in 2002. Jamison was convicted and
sentenced to death in 1985 based in part on the testimony of Charles
Howell, a co-defendant who had his own sentence reduced in exchange for
his testimony against Jamison.

The prosecution withheld statements that contradicted Howell's testimony
and that would have undermined the prosecution's theory of how the victim
died, and would have pointed to other possible suspects for the murder.
Two federal courts ruled that the prosecution's actions denied Jamison of
a fair trial. (Jamison v. Collins, 291 F.3d 380 (6th Cir. 2002)).

One of the withheld statments involved James Suggs, an eyewitness to the
robbery. Suggs testified at trial that he had been unable to make a
positive identification when the police showed him a photo array of
suspects. In fact, police records show that Suggs identified two suspects,
neither of which was Derrick Jamison. Additional withheld evidence
consisted of a series of discrepancies between Jamison's physical
characteristics and the descriptions of the perpetrators given to police
investigators by eyewitnesses.

The co-defendant Howell recently testified that he could not remember
anything about the crime, and state prosecutors decided not to proceed
against Jamison. He remains incarcerated on other unrelated charges. (See
also, K. Perry, "'85 Murder Conviction Dismissed," Cincinnati Post, Mar.
1, 2005).

Jamison is the 119th innocent person to be freed from death row since 1973
and the 1st to be exonerated in 2005.

(source: Death Penalty Information Center)

117. -HUNTSVILLE, Texas – After 17 years as a condemned man, Ernest Willis walked off death row Wednesday afternoon....

Willis not bitter after death row stint

Justice finally arrives for inmate after '87 conviction in fatal fire

07:20 AM CDT on Thursday, October 7, 2004

By SILLA BRUSH / The Dallas Morning News
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – After 17 years as a condemned man, Ernest Willis walked off death row Wednesday afternoon, slightly dazed but free. Free not only of locks and bars and armed guards, but amazingly free of bitterness after being imprisoned for a crime authorities now say he didn't commit.
"I knew it would come eventually," said Mr. Willis, 59, who was sentenced to death in 1987 after prosecutors convinced a jury that he set a fire that killed two women in the West Texas town of Iraan. "It's been too long a coming."

Previously, in The News
In 2000, The Dallas Morning News examined 461 capital cases, finding nearly one in four condemned inmates had been represented at trial or on appeal by court-appointed attorneys who have been disciplined at some point in their careers. Ernest Willis' case was a part of that research.

Mr. Willis said he was at a loss for words, but "I'm not bitter. I think what goes around comes around. The people that knew I was innocent to start with, they'll get theirs. Everything comes home."
Waiting for him outside the prison unit was the woman he married by proxy four years ago to the day but had never touched. They embraced and shared their first kiss before he turned to reporters and said, "This is what kept me going."
When Mr. Willis, a disabled oilfield worker, entered prison, he was perceived as a killer with "cold fish eyes" responsible for the deaths of Gail Jo Allison, 25, and Elizabeth "Betsy" Belue, 26.
Today he is regarded as a victim of overzealous prosecutors and an ineffective defense team – someone lucky to have escaped the ultimate wrath of the Texas criminal justice system.
"He's a big teddy bear," said James Blank, a New York intellectual property attorney who is on the team of lawyers representing Mr. Willis. "I think that's been everybody's impression who's ever interacted with him.
"I don't think he's bitter at all," said Mr. Blank, who said he was disappointed to have missed Mr. Willis' release but was journeying to Texas to celebrate with him. "It amazes me that he isn't. He's just not that type of person."
Mr. Willis was convicted of setting the deadly fire solely on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
The case – chronicled by The Dallas Morning News in 2000 – worked its way through the system for years. That year, the state district judge who presided over the case recommended Mr. Willis receive a new trial because of ineffective assistance of counsel and the fact that the state gave him anti-psychotic medication for back pain, which prevented him from working with his attorney.
One of Mr. Willis' attorneys, who surrendered his law license several years later after being sentenced to probation on a cocaine charge, apparently expended little effort on his behalf. His two attorneys spent a total of three hours with Mr. Willis before his trial, according to the earlier News report. They did not consult him at all before the punishment phase and called no character witnesses to testify on his behalf.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected those claims, however, as well as the recommendation for a new trial. But in July of this year, a federal judge overturned Mr. Willis' conviction, saying prosecutors concealed evidence, including a psychological report that he was not dangerous. The judge also determined that the drugs had made Mr. Willis unable to help his attorney.
After the federal court ruling, Ori White, the Pecos County district attorney since 1997, conducted his own investigation and decided to drop the charges.
"The decision as far as I was concerned was very easy," Mr. White said. New scientific information in arson analysis convinced him that the fire was accidental. "I am totally convinced he did not commit the crime."
Had Mr. Willis been executed, "that would have been a terrible miscarriage of justice," Mr. White said. "The fact is, he did not get executed, and I thank God for that."
Mr. Willis was sitting in a cubicle behind a plastic window Wednesday, talking on a phone with his wife on the other side, when word came that he was being released immediately.
"It really didn't sink in until I walked out that door," he said. Mr. Willis wiped away an occasional tear and had to fight to control his emotions while talking with reporters.
Mr. Willis met his wife, Verilyn, through her brother Ricky McGinn, who was executed in 2000 for the rape-slaying of his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
"He took [my] brother in like a daddy," Mrs. Willis said. "They became best friends."
Mrs. Willis said Mr. Willis "had already been proven innocent four years ago when I met him," but she wasn't sure he would ever be set free.
"We were wishing, but wishing was about as far as it went," Mrs. Willis said.
The marriage was not the only good that came out of his incarceration.
"It does make a better person out of you," he said. "Even the real coldhearted guys that come down there, you know. Everyone has a little spot in their heart."
Mr. Willis said he wants "a good clean life. I mean being in a place like that makes you a better person all the way around. I used to drink and carouse and stuff like that. But I'll never touch another drop."
Mr. Willis, who had no prior record, was given $100, 10 days of medication, and the plaid shirt, green pants and white running shoes he had on. He said he felt people would give him a second chance.
"I believe so, because I was proven innocent," he said. "If I'd have gotten out on a technicality, that would have been a whole lot different, but I walked out an innocent man."
Mrs. Willis, who lives in Mississippi, said the couple would not live in the Lone Star State.
"We're not going to stay in Texas, and we're not going to live in Mississippi," she said. "I have two houses, and as soon as they sell, we're gone."
Jim Marcus, an attorney with the Texas Defender Service, said Mr. Willis was lucky.
"The question is not how could this happen, but how often does this happen?" he said. "Not everybody is fortunate like Ernest Willis was to have the quality legal representation [on appeal]. And it makes you wonder about those cases ... where the attorneys are conducting no independent investigation at all."
Death penalty supporters said the case shows the system works.
"It's a black eye against the system," said Dudley Sharp, a victims' rights advocate, but "it also recognizes that the district attorney in this case would do the right thing. All systems make mistakes. It's a real tragedy for Mr. Willis and his family, and I'm glad the district attorney did the right thing."
Mr. Willis' family members, many of whom live outside Texas, kept the phone lines busy Wednesday calling one another.
"I am so happy he is getting out," said Jean Pitner, a cousin who lives in Cyril, Okla. "I was scared to death they were going to kill him."
Ms. Pitner said Mr. Willis' mother, who lived in New Mexico before passing away several years ago, never stopped believing in her son's innocence.
"She will never know he got out," Ms. Pitner said. "But she always knew he was innocent. We all did. If we could have afforded a good lawyer, this would have never happened."
Bernice Willis, Mr. Willis' sister-in-law, said she and her husband, who live in Odessa, visited Mr. Willis in prison over the years. She called him a "good guy" who endured years of setbacks in his case.
"It has been sheer torture on the whole family," she said. "It was like the whole family was sentenced to 17 years."

Staff writers Diane Jennings in Dallas and Dave Michaels in Austin contributed to this report.
E-mail sbrush@dallasnews.com
and djennings@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com

116 Todestraktinsassen entlastet über 28 Jahre, USA. Bericht:
15. September 2004:

116 US Todestraktinsassen sind seit der Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe 1976 vom Obersten Gericht, entlastet worden und viele der Gefangenen wurden Dank der DNA-Technologie befreit. Einem Bericht zufolge mit dem Titel " Unschuld und die Krise in der amerikanischen Todesstrafe", veröffentlicht vom Death Penalty Information Center.

"Einhundertsechszehn Leute sind aus dem Todestrakt befreit, nachdem Ihre Urteile überprüft wurden, eingeschlossen 16 Menschen in den vergangenen 20 Monaten", " Diese Insassen zusammen verbrachten über 1.000 Jahre Ihre Freiheit mit Warten"sagt der Bericht. "" Das Tempo von Befreiungen hat scharf zugenommen und hat Zweifel über die Zuverlässigkeit des ganzen Systems aufgeracht."

Die Staaten mit den meisten Entlastungen waren Florid, mit 21 und Illinois mit 18. Das Tempo von Befreiungen hat sich beschleunigt dank Entwicklungen in der DNA Wissenschaft, die " als der goldene Standard gerichtlicher Untersuchung üblich geworden ist, schrieb das Zentrum, das einen Bann der Todesstrafe erfordert ".

" Diese Wissenschaft, zusammen mit einer energischen neuen Untersuchung vieler Fälle, hat zur Entdeckung von einer wachsenden Anzahl tragischer Fehler geführt und hat Insassen befreit."

" Die offizielle staatliche Antwort zur Krise von Fehlern ist bei besten Willen lauwarm gewesen, offizielle Trägheit bleibt das größte Hindernis, um sich zu verändern. " sagte der Bericht.

Mehr als 900 Leute sind in den Vereinigten Staaten hingerichtet worden, da die Todesstrafe vor 28 Jahren wieder eingeführt wurde.

Im Januar stimmte der Oberste Gerichtshof überein, die Gesetzlichkeit vom Hinrichtungen von verurteilten Mördern, die Minderjährig zur Zeit der Verbrechen waren, zu untersuchen. Das hohe Gericht wird den Fall später dieses Jahr hören.

USA. 116 DEATH ROW INMATES CLEARED OVER 28 YEARS, REPORT

September 15, 2004: 116 US death row inmates have been exonerated since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and many of the prisoners were freed thanks to the emergence DNA technology, according to a report titled "Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty" released by the Death Penalty Information Center.
"One hundred and sixteen people have been freed from death row after being cleared of their charges, including 16 people in the past 20 months," the report said.
"These inmates cumulatively spent over 1,000 years awaiting their freedom," the report said. "The pace of exonerations has sharply increased, raising doubts about the reliability of the whole system."
The states with the most exonerations were Florida, with 21, and Illinois, with 18.
The pace of exonerations has quickened thanks to the development of DNA science, which has become "the new gold standard of forensic investigation," wrote the center, which calls for a ban of the death penalty.
"This science, along with a vigorous re-investigation of many cases, has led to the discovery of a growing number of tragic mistakes and freed inmates," it said.
"The official government response to the crisis of errors has been tepid at best," the report said. "Official inertia remains the biggest obstacle to change."
More than 900 people have been executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated 28 years ago.
In January, the Supreme Court agreed to examine the legality of executing convicted murderers who were minors at the time of the crimes. The high court will hear the case later this year.
For further information : www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

108th Inmate Exonerated!
Louisiana Case Shows Need for Freeze on Executions!

On May 9th, forty-year-old Louisiana inmate John Thompson became the 108th death row exoneree after a jury acquitted him of all charges in a retrial. Thompson served 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit; sixteen of those years he awaited execution on death row. This most recent case highlights yet again that the nation's death penalty systems have reached a crisis level.

Thompson's exoneration brings to 108 the total number of wrongfully convicted inmates in our nation's death penalty system in just the last three decades. Write to your legislators today. Let them know that we can't keep watching innocent men and women fall through the cracks. It's time for a moratorium now!

John Thompson was convicted of the 1984 murder of Ray Liuzza. Several times, he was within weeks of execution, though he always maintained his innocence. His sentence was reduced to life without parole in 2001, and last year the courts granted him a new trial. By this point, police had lost the murder weapon, several eyewitnesses had come forward saying Thompson was not the killer, and defense attorneys showed that the prosecution had withheld evidence exonerating Thompson. Thompson testified on his own behalf and the jury deliberated for less than an hour before acquitting him.

"Ich kenne die meisten von euch Jungs. Wie geht es Ihnen, Dave Savini? Danke für die vielen Berichte, vielen Dank. Unglaublich, es ist ein Wunder. Sie wissen, Wunder geschehen. Der Gouverneur hat eine außergewöhnliche Rede gehalten, aber ich möchte dieses Statement sehr klar machen..."

"Ich bin sicher viele von Ihnen haben schon zuvor mit mir gearbeitet und Sie alle wissen, wie schwer es war meinen Fall öffentlich zu machen." "Ich habe an verschiedene Medien und an Ermittler geschrieben, um meinen Fall zu betrachten, Sie wissen. Einige von Ihnen haben geantwortet, eine von Ihnen nicht. Es ist sehr wichtig, dass Sie sich mit den Fällen der anderen Jungs im Todestrakt beschäftigen und im Gefängnis. Es sind mehr Unschuldige eingesperrt. Es sind mehr Unschuldige eingesperrt."

• Police said Patterson, 38, confessed to the April 1986 stabbing of an elderly couple in Chicago. Aaron Patterson never signed the confession and during his interrogation scrawled, "I lie about murders, police threaten me with violence," into a bench with a paper clip.

105. • Madison Hobley, 42, was convicted of killing seven people in an arson fire in 1987. Private investigators later developed evidence that a metal gas can found at the scene used to connect Hobley to the arson was planted. He long contended he was a torture victim, too.

106. •Leroy Orange, 52, was sentenced to die for taking part in the stabbing of his former girlfriend, her 10-year-old son and two others. The conviction came despite Orange's description of torture and testimony that his half brother, Leonard Kidd, was the one who stabbed the victims. Kidd, also on death row, claims he too was tortured into confessing.

107. •Stanley Howard, 40, was convicted in a 1987 murder and also contended he had been tortured.

103. After 16 years on Florida’s death row, Rudolph Holton stepped out from a prison's razor wire fences and stood in the bright sunlight and crisp, cold air. All you need about : http://www.rudolphholton.us

TAMPA - As students in the job training class told their stories, Sandra Holton heard it coming. She knew what her husband was about to say.

The teacher had asked students to explain their criminal pasts. People brought up the usual drug charges and domestic disputes. No one, except Rudolph, mentioned a murder charge.

But how was he going to survive if he kept blurting out those words? How could he find a job and stay out of trouble? How would he deal with the rush of emotions - shame and anger, love and lust - that she felt?

When Rudolph, now 50, was sent to death row, he was 33. For the next 161/2 years, until January, he lived in an environment where condemned men marked their days.

Todeskandidat nach DNS-Untersuchung freigelassen

30. April 2002 Nach zehn Jahren hinter Gittern ist ein wegen Mordes verurteilter Amerikaner von einem Gericht im US-Bundesstaat Arizona frei gesprochen worden.

Anhand von DNS-Untersuchungen konnte die Unschuld des 45-Jährigen ursprünglich zum Tod verurteilten Mannes nachgewiesen werden. Besonders Gegner der Todesstrafe begrüßten die Freilassung am Montag. Der ehemalige Postangestellte Ray Krone ist demnach bereits der 100. amerikanische Todeskandidat seit 1973, dessen Unschuld nachträglich festgestellt werden konnte.

Krone war 1991 wegen Mordes an einem Kellner in einer Bar verurteilt worden. Nach einigen Jahren in der Todeszelle war das Urteil in lebenslange Haft umgewandelt worden. Der Schuldspruch beruhte hauptsächlich auf Zeugenaussagen und dem Vergleich von Biss- Spuren, die auf der Leiche gefunden wurden und mit Krone’s Zähnen übereinstimmten. Mit Hilfe von DNS-Untersuchungen ermittelten die Behörden inzwischen einen Mann als Täter, der bereits wegen anderer Verbrechen im Gefängnis sitzt.

Text: dpa

Stop to take Lives in the name of Justice - Abolish the Capital Punishment