This list contains names of people who were found guilty of
capital crimes and placed on
death row but later found to be
wrongly convicted. Many of these exonerees' sentences were overturned by acquittal or pardon, but some of those listed were exonerated posthumously.[1] The state listed is that in which the conviction occurred, the year is that of release and the case is that which overturned the conviction.
This list does not include:
Posthumous pardons for individuals executed before 1950.
Inmates who were given life sentences when their country, province or state abolished the death penalty.
People who were threatened with death and never jailed.
People who were jailed by
extralegal groups or courts, for example, as often occurs in cases of sentences of
stoning.
Canada
Steven Truscott was convicted of a schoolmate's murder in 1959 and sentenced at age 14 to death by hanging. His sentence was commuted to life in prison four months later, and he was paroled in 1969. His conviction was overturned in 2007 for "miscarriage of justice."[2] In July 2008, the Ontario government announced it would pay Truscott $6.5 million in compensation for his ordeal.
India
Six men Ankush Maruti Shinde, Rajya Appa Shinde, Ambadas Laxman Shinde, Raju Mhasu Shinde, Bapu Appa Shinde and Suresh Shinde were convicted and sentenced to death penalty in 2009 on charges of rape and murder. On 6 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India acquitted all the six death-row convicts and proclaimed them innocent.[3][4]
In March 2023, the Supreme Court of India freed Niranaram Chetanram Chaudhary after he spent 28 years, six months and 23 days in custody, and was freed from Nagpur jail. At the time of conviction, Chaudhary was 12 years and six months. As per Indian laws, death sentence or any sentence more than three years cannot be awarded to a juvenile.[5]
Japan
1983
Sakae Menda was forced to confess to the murders of a Buddhist priest and his wife in 1948 and was convicted on two counts of
murder and
robbery in 1949. In a 1983
retrial, he was found
not guilty of all charges. He died in 2020.[6][7]
1989
Masao Akahori was convicted in 1954 at the age of 24 of raping and murdering a schoolgirl. In 1989, he became the fourth death row inmate in Japan to be released.[8][9][6]
Taiwan
2012
Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) were sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Wu Ming-han and his wife Yeh Ying-lan in Xizhi District, Taipei County, Taiwan. They were acquitted in 2012.[10]
2016
Cheng Hsing-tse (鄭性澤) was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of a police officer in Fengyuan, Taichung, Taiwan. He was acquitted in May 2016.[11]
United Kingdom
1966
Timothy Evans, convicted of the murder of his infant daughter Geraldine in 1950, was hanged on March 9, 1950, and posthumously pardoned in 1966.[12][13][14]
As of February 2nd, 2024, the Innocence Database maintained by the
Death Penalty Information Center shows 196 exonerations of prisoners on death row in the United States since 1973.[20]
Clifford Henry Bowen, Oklahoma. Convicted 1981.[111]
1987
Joseph Green Brown. Florida. Convicted 1974. He was re-arrested in 2012 and charged with the murder of his wife in North Carolina, for which he was convicted on September 12, 2013.[112][113]
Perry Cobb and Darby J. Tillis. Illinois. Convicted 1979. The primary witness in the case, Phyllis Santini, was determined to be an accomplice of the actual killer by the
Illinois Supreme Court. The Judge in the case,
Thomas J. Maloney, was later convicted of accepting bribes.[114][115]
Juan Ramos, Florida. Convicted 1983. Acquitted on retrial in April 1987.[116]
Larry Troy and Willie Brown, Florida. Convicted 1983.[119]
1989
Randall Dale Adams, Texas. Convicted 1977. He was exonerated as a result of information uncovered by film-maker Errol Morris and presented in an acclaimed 1988 documentary, The Thin Blue Line. Adams was released and all charges were dropped in December 1988.[120]
James Joseph Richardson, Florida. Convicted 1968.[121]
Ron Williamson, Oklahoma. Convicted 1988. Along with Gregory R. Wilhoit, Williamson later became the inspiration for and subject of John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.[129]
Ronald Jones, Illinois. Convicted 1989. Released May 17, 1999.[158][159]
Clarence Richard Dexter, Jr., Missouri. Convicted 1991.[160]
Alfred Rivera, North Carolina. Convicted 1997.[161]
^Mary Westlake v Criminal Cases Review Commission[2004] EWHC 2779 (Admin) (17 November 2004),
High Court (England and Wales). It includes a segment from the Hansard transcript of Jenkins's decision to recommend a pardon in the House of Commons.
This list contains names of people who were found guilty of
capital crimes and placed on
death row but later found to be
wrongly convicted. Many of these exonerees' sentences were overturned by acquittal or pardon, but some of those listed were exonerated posthumously.[1] The state listed is that in which the conviction occurred, the year is that of release and the case is that which overturned the conviction.
This list does not include:
Posthumous pardons for individuals executed before 1950.
Inmates who were given life sentences when their country, province or state abolished the death penalty.
People who were threatened with death and never jailed.
People who were jailed by
extralegal groups or courts, for example, as often occurs in cases of sentences of
stoning.
Canada
Steven Truscott was convicted of a schoolmate's murder in 1959 and sentenced at age 14 to death by hanging. His sentence was commuted to life in prison four months later, and he was paroled in 1969. His conviction was overturned in 2007 for "miscarriage of justice."[2] In July 2008, the Ontario government announced it would pay Truscott $6.5 million in compensation for his ordeal.
India
Six men Ankush Maruti Shinde, Rajya Appa Shinde, Ambadas Laxman Shinde, Raju Mhasu Shinde, Bapu Appa Shinde and Suresh Shinde were convicted and sentenced to death penalty in 2009 on charges of rape and murder. On 6 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India acquitted all the six death-row convicts and proclaimed them innocent.[3][4]
In March 2023, the Supreme Court of India freed Niranaram Chetanram Chaudhary after he spent 28 years, six months and 23 days in custody, and was freed from Nagpur jail. At the time of conviction, Chaudhary was 12 years and six months. As per Indian laws, death sentence or any sentence more than three years cannot be awarded to a juvenile.[5]
Japan
1983
Sakae Menda was forced to confess to the murders of a Buddhist priest and his wife in 1948 and was convicted on two counts of
murder and
robbery in 1949. In a 1983
retrial, he was found
not guilty of all charges. He died in 2020.[6][7]
1989
Masao Akahori was convicted in 1954 at the age of 24 of raping and murdering a schoolgirl. In 1989, he became the fourth death row inmate in Japan to be released.[8][9][6]
Taiwan
2012
Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) were sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Wu Ming-han and his wife Yeh Ying-lan in Xizhi District, Taipei County, Taiwan. They were acquitted in 2012.[10]
2016
Cheng Hsing-tse (鄭性澤) was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of a police officer in Fengyuan, Taichung, Taiwan. He was acquitted in May 2016.[11]
United Kingdom
1966
Timothy Evans, convicted of the murder of his infant daughter Geraldine in 1950, was hanged on March 9, 1950, and posthumously pardoned in 1966.[12][13][14]
As of February 2nd, 2024, the Innocence Database maintained by the
Death Penalty Information Center shows 196 exonerations of prisoners on death row in the United States since 1973.[20]
Clifford Henry Bowen, Oklahoma. Convicted 1981.[111]
1987
Joseph Green Brown. Florida. Convicted 1974. He was re-arrested in 2012 and charged with the murder of his wife in North Carolina, for which he was convicted on September 12, 2013.[112][113]
Perry Cobb and Darby J. Tillis. Illinois. Convicted 1979. The primary witness in the case, Phyllis Santini, was determined to be an accomplice of the actual killer by the
Illinois Supreme Court. The Judge in the case,
Thomas J. Maloney, was later convicted of accepting bribes.[114][115]
Juan Ramos, Florida. Convicted 1983. Acquitted on retrial in April 1987.[116]
Larry Troy and Willie Brown, Florida. Convicted 1983.[119]
1989
Randall Dale Adams, Texas. Convicted 1977. He was exonerated as a result of information uncovered by film-maker Errol Morris and presented in an acclaimed 1988 documentary, The Thin Blue Line. Adams was released and all charges were dropped in December 1988.[120]
James Joseph Richardson, Florida. Convicted 1968.[121]
Ron Williamson, Oklahoma. Convicted 1988. Along with Gregory R. Wilhoit, Williamson later became the inspiration for and subject of John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.[129]
Ronald Jones, Illinois. Convicted 1989. Released May 17, 1999.[158][159]
Clarence Richard Dexter, Jr., Missouri. Convicted 1991.[160]
Alfred Rivera, North Carolina. Convicted 1997.[161]
^Mary Westlake v Criminal Cases Review Commission[2004] EWHC 2779 (Admin) (17 November 2004),
High Court (England and Wales). It includes a segment from the Hansard transcript of Jenkins's decision to recommend a pardon in the House of Commons.