African-Americans made up more than two-thirds of wrongful convictions last year.

Two-Thirds

More than two-thirds of people exonerated in wrongful conviction investigations last year were Black, including three on death row, according to an annual report from the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE).

The cases included the overturned convictions of two men — Sherwood Brown and Eddie Lee Howard Jr. — who were taken off Mississippi’s death row in separate cases involving doctors who testified to now debunked bite mark evidence. Combined, Brown and Howard served 54 years on death row.

In Los Angeles, Barry Williams was released from death row in a case “riddled with police and prosecutor misconduct,” according to NRE. Witnesses in the murder of 21-year-old Jerome Dunn recanted their testimony and a judge found that the prosecutor failed to turn over evidence to the defense prior to trial. Williams spent 35 years on death row in California, but he will remain in prison to continue serving a sentence of 34 years to life for another homicide. 

Those convictions were among 161 that were tossed nationwide last year, according to the NRE report. Since May 2012, the project has recorded 3,060 exonerees. More Black people have been found to be wrongfully convicted than whites: 1,570 Black men and 81 Black women, compared to 897 white men and 147 white women. 

Official Misconduct

There are several factors that contribute to a wrongful conviction, such as prosecutorial misconduct, false confession, and jailhouse informants. The annual report found that, in 2021, official misconduct occurred in at least 102 exonerations, including 77% of murder and manslaughter exonerations. 

There are variables of official misconduct that include withholding evidence that is favorable to the defendant, and forensic analysis misconduct, according to the NRE database. 

“Official misconduct was found in 42% of the cases in 2012. Now, over 2,000 cases later, we see official misconduct in 56%,” according to the annual report. 

The NRE database has tracked wrongful convictions since 1989 and has a few cases prior to that year. The effort aims to provide detailed information about every wrongful conviction across the country and is maintained by the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School, and Michigan State University College of Law.

Indiana Wrongful Conviction Attorney

If you or someone you know have been wrongfully convicted, contact an Indianapolis Wrongful Conviction Attorney at the Law Office of Mark Nicholson. Let us fight to get things right! 

24/7 Call 3178-6678-0718  today!