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Our Partners at Represent Justice Feature the Work of Death Row Exonerees in Blog Post

Our Partners at Represent Justice Feature the Work of Death Row Exonerees in Blog Post

Thank you to Represent Justice for highlighting the work of death row exonerees in a blog post covering our feature in Nat Geo and the #ImLivingProof video series, made possible by a Represent Justice grant. We are proud to partner with Represent Justice, who’s vision is a fair legal system, dignity for system-impacted individuals and communities, and an end to extreme sentencing and mass incarceration. Read more

Death Penalty Information Center Writes Story About #ImLivingProof Video Campaign

Death Penalty Information Center Writes Story About #ImLivingProof Video Campaign

Death Penalty Information Center Writes Story About #ImLivingProof Video Campaign

Witness to Innocence, the national organization of U.S. death-row exonerees, has released a series of short videos under the tag “#ImLivingProof,” featuring the stories of men and women who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. The series, produced by filmmaker Martin Schoeller with funding from the Art for Justice Fund, attempts to personalize the dangers of the death penalty by showing the public living proof that innocent people are sentenced to death. Eigh

Kwame Ajamu

Kwame Ajamu

State: Ohio Convicted: 1975 Exonerated: 2014 Race: Black DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: False eyewitness testimony Police Misconduct Kwame's Wrongful Conviction Kwame Ajamu was a teenager in Cleveland, Ohio, when he became a victim of wrongful conviction due to false eyewitness testimony and police misconduct, resulting in 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The sole evidence against Kwame, known as Ronnie Bridgeman at the time, an

Sabrina Butler-Smith

Sabrina Butler-Smith

State: Mississippi Convicted: 1990 Exonerated: 1995 Race: Black DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: False or misleading forensic evidence Prosecutorial misconduct Sabrina's Wrongful Conviction Sabrina Butler-Smith was a Mississippi teenager when she became a victim of wrongful conviction due to false or misleading forensic evidence and prosecutorial misconduct. She endured six and a half years in prison, two years and nine months of which were on deat

Gary Drinkard

Gary Drinkard

State: Alabama Convicted: 1995 Exonerated: 2001 Race: Caucasian DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: False accusation Inadequate legal defense Prosecutorial misconduct Gary's Wrongful Conviction Gary Drinkard spent close to six years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit. After he was exonerated in 2001, he has attended college, worked as a laborer and as a Peer Specialist for Witness to Innocence, supporting fellow exonerated death row

Shujaa Graham

Shujaa Graham

State: California Convicted: 1976 Exonerated: 1981 Race: Black DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: False accusation Prosecutorial misconduct Shujaa's Wrongful Conviction Shujaa Graham was born in Lake Providence, Louisiana and grew up on a plantation in the segregated South of the 1950s before moving to Southern California, where he experienced the Watts Riots and police occupation of his community. In and out of trouble, he spent much of his adolesce

Derrick Jamison

Derrick Jamison

State: Ohio Convicted: 1985 Exonerated: 2005 Race: Black DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: Perjury or false accusation Police misconduct Derrick's Wrongful Conviction Derrick Jamison spent 20 years on Ohio's death row for a crime he did not commit. He now works for Witness to Innocence as a Peer Specialist, supporting his fellow exonerated death row survivors as they navigate life after exoneration and continue their fight for abolition. Derrick is

Ron Keine

Ron Keine

State: New Mexico Convicted: 1974 Exonerated: 1976 Race: Caucasian DNA used in exoneration? No Reasons for wrongful conviction: Prosecutorial misconduct Police misconduct False testimony Ron's Wrongful Conviction Ron Keine spent 2 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, due to prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, and false testimony. He was one of four men wrongfully convicted of the murder, kidnapping, and rape of a University of New Mexico student in 1974.

Ray Krone

Ray Krone

State: Arizona Convicted: 1992 Exonerated: 2002 Race: Caucasian DNA used in exoneration? Yes Reasons for wrongful conviction: False or misleading forensic evidence Prosecutorial misconduct Ray's Wrongful Conviction Ray Krone co-founded Witness to Innocence with Sister Helen Prejean in 2003. Before his exoneration in 2002, Ray spent more than 10 years in Arizona prisons, including nearly three years on death row, for a murder he did not commit. His world was turned upside down

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