#wrongful conviction

[leptoquark3]

On January 21, 2026, the Dallas County Commissioners Court unanimously adopted a resolution officially exonerating Tommy Lee Walker. This posthumous declaration came 70 years after Texas wrongfully executed him in the electric chair on May 12, 1956, at just 21 years old.Walker was arrested and tried by an all-white jury in 1954 for the rape and murder of Venice Parker.

The exoneration, led by the Dallas County District Attorney's office, the Innocence Project, and Northeastern University's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, found that his conviction was heavily flawed.

Details of his wrongful conviction include:Coerced Confession: Walker was interrogated for hours by a detective who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and forced to sign a false confession, which he immediately recanted.

Airtight Alibi: Walker had multiple witnesses confirming he was across town at a hospital for the birth of his son.

Racial Bias & Prosecutorial Misconduct: Prosecutors utilized inflammatory tactics, struck all prospective jurors of color, and withheld exculpatory evidence.

You can read the full resolution and details of his case reported by the Innocence Project or delve into the case's deep legal background through the Equal Justice Initiative.

[crimecentrals]

The Ryan Ferguson case is one of the clearest examples of how multiple systemic failures can stack on top of each other until an innocent person has no way out.

In 2001, Kent Heitholt was murdered outside of his workplace. For two years, the case was unsolved.

Then police got a tip and after hours of interrogation, Charles Erickson confessed and implicated his friend, Ryan Ferguson.

Ferguson denied everything, and would continue to do so for nine years.

In 2013, Ferguson's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison.

Unfortunately, Kent Heitholt's murder remains unsolved.

Read the full story here

[blackhistorydeclassified]

27 Years in Prison — The FBI Had Wiretap Proof Geronimo Pratt Was 400 Miles Away

27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. The FBI knew he was 400 miles away. They had wiretap proof. They hid it.Geronimo Pratt. Vietnam veteran. Black Panther. Framed.Full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tsgxRIU0NY

[blackhistorydeclassified]

19 Years in Prison — COINTELPRO Fabricated the Case Against Dhoruba Bin Wahad

19 years in prison. COINTELPRO fabricated the case. When the FBI files were finally released, they proved what he'd been saying all along.Dhoruba Bin Wahad. Conviction overturned. Decades stolen.Full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA2Iu-gwHsY

[qupritsuvwix]

New York man freed after 19 years in prison for robbery he didn't commit

A New York man who spent nearly two decades in prison for a roughly $550 robbery has been exonerated and freed

[us-politics]

[insteading]

Texas Mother Is Exonerated After 22 Years for a Crime That Never Happened - Innocence Project

At trial, the State presented no evidence of prior mistreatment or violence. Ms. Mejia had no criminal history.  Ms. Mejia steadfastly maintained her innocence, including during her testimony at trial. Nonetheless, the jury returned a guilty verdict, convicting her of murder and injury to a child. She was sentenced to life in prison, lost her parental rights, and did not see her four children again for over two decades. “In this case from the start, the worst was assumed: That this was an intentional act,” said Collin Bellair, Assistant District Attorney, Travis County District Attorney’s Office, at today’s hearing. “We could not have been more wrong, and it turned a tragic accident into a wrongful conviction.”

The jury never heard statements from Carmen Mejia's children corroborating her story. And then they didn't see their mom for 20 years.

I'm always happy when a wrongfully convicted person's name is cleared. But this is time she cannot be given back. And, because this administration is a trash fire:

Unfortunately, Ms. Mejia was not released at the conclusion of the exoneration hearing due to an immigration hold, which would not have been issued if not for her wrongful conviction.

Thank you to her legal team. Thank you to the judge for stating that the conviction was bullshit and that deporting her to the country she fled in 1995 would be cruel and needless.

I hope she is actually reunited with her family soon.

[qupritsuvwix]

Germany: Unjustly jailed man gets €1.3 million compensation

The Bavarian state is to give over €1 million to a man who spent 13 years in jail on murder charges that were overturned. Prosecutors had pr