Man pleads guilty to murder for which Doug Warney was wrongly convicted

A New York inmate pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a 1996 murder in Rochester, NY, to which Doug Warney falsely confessed. Eldred Johnson, Jr. told a judge in state court that he had stabbed William Beason, 63, and heard days later that Doug Warney had been charged.

"I thought that would get me off the hook — if that guy wanted the murder, he could have it," Johnson told the judge. "I do not know Douglas Warney," he added, "and he was not with me when I killed William Beason."

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. (New York Newsday, 03/06/07)

Warney, who has a history of mental problems and an eighth-grade education, falsely confessed to the crime after 12 hours of interrogation. He served 10 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence – and Johnson’s guilt – last year. Represented by the Innocence Project, Warney initially requested testing in 2004.

Read more about Warney’s case here

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Read more about False Confessions as a cause of wrongful conviction

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